Naruto Shippūden: Redux
by Predator216
Summary: What if Jiraiya had trained Naruto properly instead of teaching him just a few basic things in the three year training period. What if Naruto, not only determined to bring Sasuke back, trained to eventually face Akatsuki. This is my idea of how the Shippūden series should have gone.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone. I am Predator216 and I know that many of you are not so happy with the lack of updates regarding this story. As I had stated earlier, I was going to rewrite the earlier chapters with the intent of removing as many discrepancies as I could. As I have stated earlier, I started this fic because I was never satisfied with the way the manga ended. The same is going with the anime and that includes the last movie. The manga, and the anime have now taken a path that was more suited for Dragonball series, and while I am a great fan of that particular series, it isn't Naruto. Naruto was a fic about a ninja and his never say die attitude.**

 **But throughout the manga, I don't think there was an even ounce of something that could be called ninja-like. And that is why I decided to rewrite my fic. While it was showing a powerful Naruto, I did the same thing that many authors have already done and that is something that I didn't want to do.**

 **So, this is the culmination of research, some heavy thinking with the way I wanted y fic to go and the introduction of a new character. I don't know how you all will respond to it but I hope that you all like it.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I don't have the drawing skills that Masashi Kishimoto owns and no matter how much I gripe, it doesn't change the fact that what a majority of writers in this site are doing is a result of the imagination that he owns.**

 **CHAPTER-1**

 **He Returns…and Brings along Guests**

 **Konohagakure no Sato, early morning**

The village was just beginning its day, shops opening their doors and bars closing their doors, a few of them throwing the more persistent customers on the street while banning them for the next few days. The ninja academy was empty and quiet, not for long though. The training grounds were in use, some of them noisy with thunks of weapons, ninjutsu practice or the periodic shout of YOUTH followed by several shouts of LEE and GAI SENSEI, something that almost everyone stayed away from, in order to hold onto their sanity.

Shinobi could occasionally be seen hopping over rooftops, on messenger duty if not returning or leaving for a mission. Those with more covert assignments weren't seen at all, of course, but they were also there. Konoha was always and ever bustling, over and under the surface, exuding an aura of peace and serenity.

Exactly three minutes before seven, the deceptive image of peace and quiet was shattered by a loud puff of smoke that covered the entire Hokage Monument, catching everyone's attention. The surprised expression on everyone's face soon turned into one of incredulity and horror as the smoke was eventually blown away by the winds. The reason for this horror and incredulity? The Hokage Monument, the feature symbolizing their standing as the strongest among the various Hidden Villages, had been defiled and defaced with paint.

The Shodaime Hokage's face had a perpetual running nose, while the Nidaime Hokage had an ever present sweat drop. The Sandaime Hokage had an expression as though he was high, while the Yondaime had a running nosebleed, as a book with a famous title among men and infamous one among women was drawn alongside his face. And finally the face of the Godaime Hokage had a drunk stupid look drawn on her face with bottles of sake drawn beside her face.

Curiously, this did not arouse alarm so much as groans and various complaints in the general line of "not again!", "fifth time this week!" and "whoever this bastard is, I'll-"

Several member of the ANBU Black Ops were running towards the source of commotion, their masks showing no emotions on their faces, with a determined gait. However, if one were to look beneath them, the resigned expressions and the black bags under their eyes told a different story whatsoever.

The door to the office of the Godaime Hokage was slammed open as a harried looking young woman rushed into it, only to sweat drop at the scene right before her eyes. There sleeping, with several sake bottles surrounding her while her paperwork lay scattered throughout the room was the Godaime Hokage. The person standing on the door slack jawed was a fair skinned woman of average height, standing at 5ft 4inches, and slender build with black eyes and hair. Her hair was straight and shoulder-length with bangs covering her ears and framing her face. She was garbed in a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and open toed sandals with low heels. This person was Shizune Kato, the first apprentice of the Godaime Hokage and her assistant.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" she shouted, waking the passed out Hokage in a panic.

"I'm Awake. I didn't drink anything. You have nothing against me." The Hokage shouted out, waking up in panic only to find her assistant glaring at her the same evil glare that she had whenever she caught her drinking on the job. She then noticed the scattered paperwork and sake bottles and grinned sheepishly at her apprentice.

She stood up and flexed her body, working out the kinks formed due to sleeping on her chair. As she stood up, she heard the commotion going around the village and could do nothing but groan.

"Another prank?" she sighed. She truly hated the blond bastard and his perverted teacher for bringing her back to the village and taking the job. This past week had caused her infamous temper to reach her limit, causing her to snap at almost everyone. If only they could find the culprit, she would personally wring his/her neck with her bare hands.

"Eh… Tsunade-sama, I think you should see for yourself." Shizune pointed towards the Hokage Monument behind the busty Hokage and went to stand by the side, knowing that her teacher was about to erupt.

Slowly, as if not wanting to know what new horror had been unleashed upon the village, the Hokage turned around and was struck speechless at the spectacle. The expression soon morphed into a smile. However, seeing this smile sent a shiver down Shizune's spine.

"Shizune..." she began in a calm, yet evil voice. "The moment we find the bastard, I want him/her in my office. I would like to personally oversee their…punishment."

Shizune was about to reply when a voice interrupted her, shocking her and the ANBU hidden in the room with its presence.

"Baa-chan", the voice began, cheekiness evident in his tone, causing everyone in the room to tense, having not felt the person a moment ago. "You truly need to tell the ANBU to up their training if they are unable to catch a simple prankster."

Tsunade and Shizune, slightly recognizing the voice, quickly turned around to confirm their suspicion, while the ANBU got ready to attack the intruder. All of them got the shock of their life when they saw the person who sat at the chair.

On the chair was the person who hadn't been in the village for the last near three years. If one were to see him for the first time, they would immediately come to the conclusion that the Yondaime Hokage had been brought back to life. He had the same sun-kissed, almost golden, blond spiky hair that seemed to be spiked in every direction with two bangs framing the side of his face. He had the same cerulean eyes that seemed to be filled with mirth that was somewhat unseen in the ninja world. However, this is where the similarities ended. He had a more angular jaw devoid of any kind of baby fat, with three whisker like marks adding a more feral look to his face that was further enhanced by the foxy smile on his face. The most shocking development was a vertical scar on his right eye, from his forehead to his down to his cheeks. When he stood up, one could see that he was easily 5ft 9 or 10 inches, a stature that was highly uncommon for his age.

The person who had been on a training trip with none other than Jiraiya, the infamous pervert and one of the strongest ninjas in Konoha, if not across the entire Elemental Nations. This person was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, apprentice of the said Sannin and jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

Another thing that shocked them was the clothes he was wearing. Having seen him wearing only his kill-me-orange jumpsuit, they were surprised to see him in a burnt orange, half-sleeved, muscle shirt that seemed to cling to his lithe and muscular frame, which was something very few ninjas were able to attain. A perfect balance between speed and power. On the biceps there were two hitae-ate sewn to them, one with the traditional Konoha symbol, while the other had a symbol of a circle with spirals in it. On his wrists he wore black fingerless gloves with several kanji etched into them. Beneath it he wore a dull white cargo pants, with a weapons pouch on both of his thighs, taped to its bottoms. And the ensemble was complete with black, open-toed shinobi sandals.

"Good to see that I can shock the current Hokage, isn't it Baa-chan?" he spoke, the smirk evident on his face.

This seemed to break the shock among the people present and the blond was immediately engulfed by the two visible people in the room.

"Not that I hate being hugged by two beautiful women, but don't you think we should discuss about my return first?" Naruto said cheekily. "Ero-sennin is on his way and informed me that he would reach in a few minutes. Moreover, don't you think I would like to brag about how I eluded the ANBU in this village for an entire week?" the last part spoken with pride evident in his voice.

Barely had he spoken the last part, when his instincts flared and moving his head slightly dodged an incoming fist by a hair's breath. Moving further back, he shifted slightly to dodge two more punches from the busty Hokage by deflecting them, knowing that blocking them would definitely lead to a few broken bones.

The Hokage snarled at the blond, who was surprisingly dodging her every punch. "Stay in one place and take your punishment like a man, you brat. Do you know how much paperwork you have caused with this stunt of yours? And how dare you hide for a week in the village and not inform anyone?"

The smile on Naruto's face widened, infuriating her even further. "Come on baa-chan… do you think I'll be like ero-sennin and take your punches head-on? He may be a masochist and a sucker for punishment, but I have no intentions to walk in his footsteps in that matter."

The rest of the room sweat dropped at the casual way of the boy's reply and the way he was still dodging the punches. The last remark seemed to have its effect as the Hokage stopped her onslaught and simply decided to bore a hole into the fellow blond with her glare.

"You better tell me everything you brat, or you will be a pulp on my wall in the next few minutes." Tsunade threatened succulently causing a small amount of sweat to trickle down Naruto's neck.

"First, Jiraiya and you simply vanish without any kind of report except the monthly ones. And they simply informed me that you were safe and the training was going well. And now, suddenly you come to Konoha and decide to wreak havoc, running the ANBU and chūnin ragged. Further, the fact that you were supposed to return two months ago and suddenly I get a message from Jiraiya that the trip is extended for two more months. So, what the hell has been going on?" By the end of the monologue, one could see the anger once on the Hokage's face.

"You know Hime…" another voice spoke before Naruto could reply making everyone direct their attention towards the window to see another figure sitting on the sill. "The way you are talking seemed as if you were worried about me and the gaki."

The person was a tall man, standing at a goof 6ft 3inches, with waist‒length, spiky white hair tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder‒length bangs that framed both sides of his face. He also had red lines that ran down from his eyes and wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for 'Oil' (油, _abura_ ), denoting his affiliation with Mount Myōboku. He also had a noticeable wart on the left side of his nose. He wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which he wore mesh armor that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit was completed with hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese geta (wooden sandals), a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a scroll on his back. This person was Jiraiya, one of the famous Densetsu no Sannin and the Gama Sennin.

He quickly hopped off the ledge and made his way towards his apprentice. "You really have worked the ninjas in the village, haven't you gaki?"

Naruto simply shrugged. "Meh, they are supposed to be the elite. If they can't catch a simple prankster in a week, it means they need to train even more. They are starting to get arrogant thinking that they are the elite. And anyways, my 'infiltration' if you could call it that has shown so many breaches in security that had I been an assassin, I could have harmed the village without anyone even finding out about it." He suddenly turned serious. "Whoever is taking care of the barrier seals is doing a shitty job. The seals overlapping those of Mito-baachan's seals are horrendous. Those need to be replaced as soon as possible."

Jiraiya simply sighed while shaking his head at the boy's remarks. "Kid just because you get seals easily doesn't mean everyone does as well. The sealing corps in Konoha are among the best across the Nations and that is because they had help from me and Minato. But if what you say is true, I will go and check them later on."

"Will you two stop talking as though you are the only people in the room and tell me what the hell is happening in here?" Tsunade nearly shouted breaking Shizune from the shock at seeing the hyperactive idiot in front of talk so seriously. Tsunade continued regardless, "what the hell happened in these years? First you two are completely off the grid, now the brat is talking about fūinjutsu as though he is a seal-master and how the hell does he even know about Mito-obaasan? And, how the hell did he infiltrate the village and hide in it for one week without even alerting someone?"

Whatever reply she was about to get was interrupted when someone knocked at the door. Tsunade was about to shout at the person to not disturb, but the option was taken from her hand when Naruto went forward and opened the door to allow another person to enter the room, causing the busty kage to gain a twitch in her eyebrows. Everyone's focus turned towards the new people who entered the room.

The first to enter was a girl of below average height, standing at 5ft 2inches, with an orange clip in her short, spiky mint green hair that matched her eye color which was also orange. Her outfit consisted of a short, sleeveless, white midriff shirt with fishnet armor underneath, long white armlets and fishnet shorts with a short white apron over it and finally she had a cylindrical container wrapped in a red cloth.

It was the second person who entered the room that had caught everyone's interest.

 _Beautiful._

If anyone had to describe the person, this would be the most apt word.

Midnight black hair that shimmered like silk in the sunlight was tied back loosely allowing her fringe to fall across her face like water cascading down a waterfall. She had light honey brown eyes which were sharp, a little cold, and glowing with intelligence. Her cherry red lips contrasted sharply with the woman's flawless porcelain white skin. The black hair and red lips coupled with the woman's pale complexion gave her the appearance of a cold feminine beauty.

She was dressed in a blood red kimono, which was tied together loosely by a yellow sash. Her kimono was quite fitting, accentuating her curved figure. To say she was voluptuous would be an understatement. She also had what looked like a kodachi strapped to her sash.

Shizune seeing that the volcano would soon erupt decided to intervene. She turned towards Naruto curious as to who the girl was and how he knew her. "Naruto-kun, who are they?"

Tsunade also looked at the duo wanting the answer to the same question. However, she was looking at the girl intently as though she had already seen her before and was trying to remember where. Naruto and Jiraiya saw this and decided to introduce them, one of them standing behind the duo, while the blade wielding woman stood beside him, her face exuding a calm confidence.

"She", he began while pushing the somewhat scared girl ahead, who was violently shaking her head, something which was easily overlooked by the blond. "Is Fū, former ninja of Takigakure, whereas she," he then glanced towards the woman standing beside him, "is Akeginu, of the former Iga no Tsubagakure. Fū-chan here wants to ask something from you."

The ex-Taki ninja was again trying to hide from the direct scrutiny that was enhanced by the fact she used to be the ninja of another village. The now known Akeginu, however looked calmly across the room, her scrutinizing gaze falling on each of the members of the ANBU, shocking said ANBU at being discovered. Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed down and bowing low, spoke, "Ohayo gozaimasu, Hokage-sama. I request you to allow both of us to join the Konoha Shinobi Corps."

The entire room, except for the two smirking male and the one female ninja, went pin drop silent at the declaration. The silence was broken when Tsunade snapped her fingers and pointed it towards Fū. "I remember you. You were in the last Chūnin Exams held in Konoha and Suna, weren't you? The one who saved Team Asuma?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Fū responded, a cheerful look on her face, having been remembered by perhaps the most powerful kunoichi across the Elemental Nations.

"The last time I saw you, you were happy being a Taki ninja. Why would you like to join Konoha?" the suspicion was entirely evident in the question, something which Naruto felt was necessary being the leader of the village. He looked towards Jiraiya, who nodded and took a step further, clearing his throat to get the attention.

"It would be best if the brat explained, Hime. There are a lot of things that you need to be informed." The serious tone caught Tsunade off-guard, having heard it only a few times. And she knew that whatever the discussion was about to be, was going to be something she needed to take seriously.

She didn't have time to contemplate as Naruto came forward, and in a tone she never expected to hear from the blond, spoke, "Hokage-sama, chūnin Naruto Uzumaki, ninja registration number 012607, reporting after two years nine months' training trip."

Switching to her Hokage mode, Tsunade replied. "At ease chūnin. And report."

Naruto nodded. "Hokage-sama, requesting room to be blacked out."

Giving a questioning look to the blond, Tsunade nevertheless made a few hand gestures, the ANBU leaving the room with nigh a sound, leaving only the original occupants in the room. Naruto turned towards the window, shaking his head with a soft smile on his face.

"Why don't you join us as well Kakashi-sensei?" he said, resulting in a pair of raised eyebrows in the case of Tsunade and Shizune and a chuckle in the case of Jiraiya, seeing his apprentice surprise people with his skills. He couldn't wait till he showed them his true growth. After all, he had trained the kid. Of course he would flourish. His inner monologue regarding his greatness as a teacher was broken when a swirl of leaves marked the arrival of another person.

The person was a fit and relatively tall shinobi, standing at a good 5ft 9inches, with gravity defying silver hair, with a single black eye while the other was covered by his tilted Konoha hitae-ate. The rest of his face was covered by a mask over the lower half of his face, which hid his narrow jawline. He had a general lazy expression and a somewhat minimalist attitude, hiding his true genius. This person was none other than Hatake Kakashi, famous throughout the Elemental Nations as Sharingan no Kakashi.

He was garbed in the standard attire of the forces, consisting of an elite Konoha‒nin flak jacket, dark blue pants and a long‒sleeve shirt with the addition of wearing shorter fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand. In his hands was a familiar orange covered book, something that he was seen with almost every time. In an aloof manner, something that he was known for, he tilted his head and with his face crinkling into an eye smile, he waved at everyone.

"Yo Naruto, Jiraiya-sama. Good to see that you both are back." Here his smile turned somewhat mischievous. "And that too with two beautiful women. You can't believe how proud I am of you Naruto. You truly make your sensei proud." The last part was said with while wiping fake tears from his eyes.

"You are misinterpreting, bakayarou. We helped Fū-chan because she needed our help. The same with Akeginu-chan. And of course they will be beautiful, it is almost a prerequisite that a kunoichi will be beautiful." Naruto added nonchalantly, all the while ignoring the growing blush on the Fū's face and the soft smile that formed on Akeginu's face.

"The best thing you have ever said my young apprentice." The boisterous voice of Jiraiya sounded. "Truly, the only thing constant throughout the Shinobi world. No matter where you go, you will find beautiful kunoichi and for someone like me who appreciates their form-"

He was interrupted midsentence courtesy of a swift punch depositing him on the floor, however nobody even batted an eyelid, as for most of them it was a regular action. She then turned towards Naruto, a dangerous glint on her face.

"Brat, if you tell me you have become a pervert like him, I'm going to give you a beating worse than anything you have ever received."

To everyone's surprise, Naruto simply waved his hand nonchalantly, "Come on baa-chan, don't you have faith in me? Of course I'd never become something like him. But just the fact that I am a teenager means that I'll be attracted towards girls. It's up to me how I handle it."

"I'll see and wait for it brat. I hope that you don't become like him. Now I've waited long enough. I want answers and I want them now."

"All right, baa-chan. Shoot and I'll answer."

"Where have you and the pervert been all this time?"

"The first few months we were just travelled from place to place, most of the time within Hi no Kuni and spent time training as much as possible. After that we went to Uzushiogakure, or what remains of it, and spent a year there. Well I spent most of the time there, Ero-kyofu would return every other day for his 'research'. The man truly is a masochist." He sighed and focused only to find Jiraiya standing by the side, while most of the people in the room had faces so pale that even Orochimaru would feel jealous. "What? What happened to you guys?"

Tsunade croaked, "Y-you went to Uzushio?"

"Yeah, it belonged to my clan, so why wouldn't I go?" Naruto asked, confusion evident in his voice.

Tsunade turned towards Jiraiya, "You told him? I had sensei letter telling me that he was supposed to be informed only on becoming chūnin?" There was a hint of anger in her voice that wasn't lost on anyone.

Jiraiya replied, once more in a serious voice "Hime, a few years ago before sensei died, he altered a law. According to the law, the Sannin among having free travel rights, had another right. Allowing them to promote an on field genin up to the rank of chūnin. After six months of training, I thought Naruto was capable of the rank and field promoted him. And that allowed me to tell him about his parents. Both of them, along with giving him those part of their legacies that they had entrusted on me. And before you start about you being the person to disclose them, I am his godfather and that gives me precedence over you."

The entire room, except for Naruto and Fū, was shell shocked at this revelation. Tsunade immediately countered, "That's not the point, you pervert. I know the damned law. What I do care is the fact that you failed to inform me. Do you know how much paperwork I will need to do just to get over this mess?"

Naruto, with a twitching eyebrow, turned towards Jiraiya, "Please, tell me she's joking, ero-kyofu. Please tell me you did not forget to send my promotion forms just because you were peeping on a few girls?" There was some desperation evident in his voice.

Everyone turned towards the perverted Sennin, only to see him fumbling through his pockets looking for something. A couple of seconds later, he took out a somewhat dusty scroll and nervously placed it on the desk, while retreating as back into the room as possible. He rubbed his neck nervously. "I might have forgotten to do so in order to celebrate for the brat's promotion. He he he."

"Damn it ero-sennin." He shouted, jumping at his mentor trying to pummel him to death. As the commotion was going on, Tsunade took the scroll and went through it, not paying attention to it lest she lose her remaining sanity. She was simply happy she didn't have to do any paperwork regarding the brat's promotion. She cleared her throat to get back on track. The day had just started and she could feel the headache she was to receive.

"Pummel your teacher after the explanation brat. Now, tell me why you went to Uzushio? The last I remembered it was completely ruined."

The blond stopped and grinned, mischief evident in his smile. "You know baa-chan, our clan truly was awesome. Did you know, there were catacombs below the whirlpools? And within the catacombs there was an entire compound like area? And only the blood of a descendent to the official clan head could gain access to it?"

The surprises seemed to be coming in waves for everyone else as the room was shocked still at the revelation that the Uzumaki clan went to this extent to protect themselves. They soon realized that even their village had such places hidden in the Hokage Monument, so it wasn't inconceivable for Uzushio to do the same.

"If the catacombs were below the whirlpools, then how did you find them?" Tsunade asked, dreading the answer.

Here, Jiraiya shuffled nervously. "I might have thrown the brat, after becoming somewhat overzealous in our training into the water."

Silence permeated throughout the room hearing this. It was eventually broken by Tsunade's voice. "You asshole, what the hell were you thinking? Were you out of your bloody mind doing something like that?"

Jiraiya whimpered at that tone. It was the tone that meant that he was going to get a serious beat down. And he knew that he deserved that one…sort of. Fortunately, his apprentice came to his rescue.

"Maa maa, baa-chan…" he waved nonchalantly. "There's no need to be angry, ya know. We got overexcited with training and it just happened. Moreover, it led to us finding my true legacy from kaa-chan's side. So, all in all it was a gain in my side."

Tsunade took a few deep breaths, calming herself down while Kakashi raised his hand.

"What did you find there, Naruto?"

"Mostly scrolls related to fūinjutsu, a few more odds and ends. The true ingenuity was in the fact that should any person other than the true clan heir tried to read the scrolls, they would only be able to read scribbles. Ero-kyofu tried many things, but was unable to decipher the seals. By their standards, he would be just a level six or seven seal master. They truly were a fearful bunch. I still don't get how they could have been defeated."

"Sheer number of shinobis brat." Jiraiya responded. "It took the combined might of three Great Villages and a couple of the smaller ones to defeat them. Remember that." He then turned towards the rest, "What the brat says is true. The things they did with just their blood seals was beyond my comprehension."

"Anyways, the next half year was spent in training and I'd like to apologize in advance but I can't disclose the identity of my teachers. It was their condition for letting them train me."

Tsunade was about to demand the answer, but Jiraiya beat her to it. "Don't try, Hime. I've tried multiple times. He won't tell, even if you are his Hokage. The trust of his teachers means that much to him."

Tsunade bristled at that, which Naruto tried to mellow down a bit. "Don't worry baa-chan. My duty lies towards Konoha and nobody else. It's just that they trusted me and I don't want to break it. I can promise you that they are not enemies of Konoha and won't try to bring harm to her."

"And should they try to harm the village?" Tsunade asked in her no-bullshit voice.

"If it ever happens, I will protect the village no matter what the cost." He replied seriously, getting a proud look from everyone in the room.

"Now…" Tsunade began, "can you tell me the reason for so much secrecy?"

Jiraiya sighed, not liking what he was going to say next. "You know I had to take care of my spy network as well, Hime. I couldn't send you monthly reports where I was or where I would be. Moreover, I had to hide Naruto from Akatsuki as well. I couldn't let them know that he was outside of the village protection."

Tsunade nodded, understanding the importance of such secrecy. This didn't mean she had to like it. She decided to move onto the next matter. "Now, I know Fū here belonged to Taki and I'm intensely grateful of her for helping Team Asuma in the previous chūnin exams. But Akeginu-san here, I know nothing about her or this Iga no Tsubagakure, marking her a risk to the security for the village. What I want to know is why they would like to join the village and why should I let them, if I let them in the first place that is?"

Naruto took a deep breath, knowing that with his next words, shit would hit the bricks. "Fū-chan here was not liked at all by her village, treated as though she was a monster in human's skin, her village leader, Shibiku, being the only person to treat her kindly and not as a monster. She even had to live in a tree in a remote part of her village. She tried making friends among the villagers but they would usher their kids away thinking that she would taint them. And all for a reason that she wasn't even in control of. In fact, the reason for her misery was none other than your grandfather, the Shodaime Hokage."

With each line Tsunade's face paled further, suspicion creeping on her. It was only the last line the blond spoke that confirmed what she was dreading. She took notice of the somewhat angry tone in his voice and decided to deal with that after everything had settled. Taking a few deep breaths, she sighed. "Is she the jinchūriki of the Nanabi?"

"Yes." Naruto replied, his voice sharp.

"Fuck." Tsunade cursed lowly, gaining a shout of "Tsunade-sama" from Shizune, before turning once again to Naruto, "You do know you have created a political nightmare for me haven't you? Taki might protest asking her back. It is only a matter of time before the secret of your being a jinchūriki is known to other Villages and once it is known we have two of the strongest Bijū, they might think of it as an act of war."

"That is why her status as one is only going to be known among us and nobody else. And Taki isn't going to ask for her."

"And why won't they Naruto-kun?" Shizune asked.

"Because according to their records, she is dead." He replied nonchalantly. Seeing their confusion he elaborated, "About four months ago, just after the Konoha-Suna joint chūnin exams, ero-kyofu and me came across a confrontation. Three ninjas of Taki were in combat with two ninjas, who wearing black cloaks with red clouds."

Ignoring the shouts of "WHAT" from the remaining people, he continued, "Both of them were people we hadn't seen before. However, we could see that they had killed Fū-chan's teammates while she herself was held unconscious by one of them, making it easy to deduce that she was a jinchūriki. It was a rather moot point due to the concentration of Nanabi's chakra in the area. Ero-kyofu and I, with help from Akeginu-chan decided that we couldn't let them take her. So we confronted them."

Tsunade's, Shizune's and Kakashi's eyes nearly popped out of their eyes hearing this. Not much was known about Akatsuki except for the fact that all of them were S-Rank ninjas, ninjas capable of fighting Kage-level ninjas. Ninjas like Jiraiya were capable of fighting them, however they knew nothing of his skills he'd gained. And seeing that they were standing here unscathed, it could only mean they'd somehow defeated or made them retreat.

Naruto seeing their skepticism shook his head, "No, we did not defeat them, not permanently. They were two of the most bizarre people I have ever encountered. One of them kept talking about taking ero-kyofu's bounty. His name was Kakuzu, I think. The other was worse. Trash talking as though his life depended on it while constantly proclaiming about some Jashin. His name was Hidan. Ero-kyofu fought Kakuzu while I faced Hidan."

"The thing is when we fought, he fought with a reckless abandon, not seeming to care even a little bit about himself. The reason I found out after about ten minutes. I cut his arm apart, but instead of stopping the fight, he grew more reckless and kept attacking. Seeing as he did not stop, Akeginu-chan cut his head off. We turned back to go join ero-kyofu in his fight, only for that bastard Hidan to start cursing like a sailor. We were so out of shock, that we didn't see Kakuzu come and take Hidan's body, along with his head and hand and take off into the forest."

"These people really were monsters, Hime." Jiraiya retorted. "Fighting Kakuzu, I had to almost go all the way. Even after I drilled him with Rasengan once, he wouldn't die. I don't know how but he was able to use all the Elements and he had these weird threadlike things that could detach from his body. Even weirder was that they formed some humanoid creatures and were able to use one element each. I ended up destroying two of them before he retreated."

"We came to the one conclusion." Naruto spoke. "Somehow, this Hidan was immortal something he proclaimed throughout the battle, although we had chosen to not pay attention to the drivel he was speaking when we were fighting. Kakuzu…we cannot be sure, but Akeginu-chan here thinks that his life is somehow connected to those black, threadlike things."

Tsunade slumped back into her chair, wiping her forehead of the thin amount of sweat. "What are these people? Immortality? How does one justify it? And there are total of nine such people in the group and we know nothing about them?"

"I'm afraid so, Hime." Jiraiya spoke lugubriously. "I scoured for anything I could on this group and we only have a limited amount of data on them, whereas they seem to have everything about the jinchūrikis and seem to be prepared to fight them."

"They might even have the support of a few villages." Kakashi interjected. "No one is speaking about them, as though they simply don't exist. So there have to be a few villages, maybe even a major one, who are hiding their existence. And whatever reason they have to collect Bijūs cannot be a peaceful ones."

"That's true, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto responded. "Kyūbi says that it has a few theories as to what they want, but it isn't sure." Seeing most of them with panicked looks, he tilted his head, "What? What did I say?"

"You talk to the Kyūbi?" Tsunade shouted, her brain ready to burst from migraine. She'd surely need medication after this meeting.

"Yeah? I shouldn't?" he mused.

"Of course not, Naruto-kun." Shizune spoke. "What if it tries to take over your body?"

"Psh." He scoffed in reply, surprising the others. "Kyūbi and me are in a sort of, partnership, you could say. I provide it with a few things and it helps me by giving me its chakra voluntarily. I just need to be able to handle the bloodlust. Besides, it doesn't need to try to take over my body. When the moment comes for me to fully control its chakra, it will be all or nothing. I will either defeat him in combat in my mindscape or it will destroy my body and escape the seal."

"What the hell are you talking about, you brat? What do you mean fight the Kyūbi? Where do you come up with such things?"

"You mean you don't know?" Naruto asked, baffled. "Kyūbi told me that in order to gain access to all of its chakra I need to open the seal and defeat it in battle. Only then will I gain its respect and be able to use the chakra without any adverse effect to my body."

The entire room was stunned silent at the proclamation. "Naruto…" Tsunade began, surprising the blond by using his name. "Are you sure about this? Is there no other way?"

"Hai, baa-chan." Naruto replied with conviction. "Ero-kyofu confirmed it himself from the toads in Mount Myōboku." Seeing the vexed look on her face, he gave a soft smile. "Don't worry, baa-chan, until there is an extremely good reason, I won't fight it until I think I am strong enough. And Kyūbi is going nowhere and is ready to wait. It told me even with my life's longevity, a hundred or so years is nothing for it."

"All right brat." Tsunade gave a sigh of relief. "I am trusting you on that matter."

"Don't worry, Hime." Jiraiya spoke, "The key to his seal is stored in one of the best toads in Mount Myōboku. And I won't give it to him unless he is ready. Besides there are a few more things that I need to teach him. And unless he does that, he won't be able to take the Kyūbi head on."

"You do/YOU DO?" Tsunade spoke with her eyebrows raised, while Naruto shouted, aggravated that his teacher hid things from him.

"Of course I do." Jiraiya scoffed. "Did you really think that I, the Gallant Jiraiya, only had that many things to teach you? I thought you had faith in me. Oh woe me, my apprentice thinks such lowly of me." He wiped a few fake tears for added effect.

"Cut the crap, ero-kyofu." Naruto accused. "What more do you have to teach me?"

"Patience, you brat." Jiraiya spoke, unaffected by the death glare sent to him by the blond. "When the elder toads grant permission, I'll let you know. But for now focus on enhancing the things that I've taught you and leave the rest to me."

"All right, all right. Geez. I'll do that. There are a few projects that I need to take care of and a few things I need to perfect. I'll do that."

"Good." Jiraiya nodded, satisfied at the response before turning towards Tsunade. "Now, anything else you need Hime?"

"Yes." Tsunade replied, now somewhat happy that the gloomy thoughts were out of the way. "You guys did not tell me how you came across Akeginu-san here. I also want you to tell me what the brat's rank should be. Should I let him continue as a chūnin or does he deserve promotion?"

Chuckling sheepishly, Naruto began. "Yeah, sorry about that. Got sidetracked. Anyways, we came across her when we were in Yu no Kuni. After finishing our stint in Uzushio, we were going to Yu to see if I could get some missions to gain experience. We had set up camp for the night, and I had gone to search for some food and water, when I came across her bloodied body floating face down in the river."

Jiraiya looked like he was going to interject, but one scathing look from Akeginu made him balk and stop himself. The rest of the people in the room sans Naruto and Fū seemed astonished that the self-proclaimed super pervert was stopped by a mere glare. Tsunade swore that she would learn how the woman had done that.

Naruto continued, "I immediately brought her to camp and started treating her. She had lost a lot of blood and it took the help of a medic toad and almost all of our supply of blood pills but we were able to stabilize her condition enough to take her to the nearest doctor. We were lucky that any of her major organ hadn't been damaged or else we wouldn't have saved her."

He did not think it necessary to inform that she had been half naked, nor the actual process they had used, something that he had already discussed with Jiraiya and Akeginu herself. There was one major piece of information, which he had skipped, one that he hoped to rectify soon enough.

"And…" Tsunade added, genuinely curious about this new person, who was still now standing silently beside the blond shinobi. "What about this Tsubagakure? I don't think I have ever heard about this village before."

"And you wouldn't have, Hokage-sama," Akeginu interjected the conversation for the first time in the conversation, her voice befitting her stature. "We ninjas of Tsubagakure were proficient enough that we were able to keep the existence of our village a secret, with no one from the outside knowing about its existence."

Naruto could feel the ANBU tense at this news, knowing that the information about her belonging to another village would make them wary of the person. And while he couldn't see it, he could feel that even Tsunade was surprised at the news.

"And your reason for joining Konoha?" Tsunade asked. "Ninjas don't change their affiliation so easily, so you doing such can be seen as a way to infiltrate Konoha."

Tsunade purposefully ignored the snort from Naruto, knowing that she would take care of the brat later, as Akeginu continued, "You can let me join Konoha because Tsubagakure is longer standing." Seeing the surprised expression on Tsunade's face, she elaborated, "I belonged to the Iga clan who were one of the two prominent clans residing in the area, the other being our rivals, the Kouga clan. Our rivalry goes back to centuries, even before the advent of the hidden villages, although most of the history is lost due to the rivalry."

Tsunade gave a slow nod, knowing how the ninjas themselves had almost no records before the Warring Clans Era, and even that period lacked proper records.

"The most recent generation was the most bloodthirsty, with the limited number of ninjas fighting each other on many occasions. One such occasion led to my near death. It was a near miracle that I survived and I am grateful for Naruto-kun for helping me survive."

The attention turned back towards the blond, who was now scratching the back of his neck.

"You don't need to do that Akeginu-chan," he said rather timorously, something that surprised the rest of those present.

"And no matter what you say, I shall forever be in your debt Naruto-kun." Unheeding of the sigh from Naruto, she turned back towards Tsunade. "When I had regained enough of my health for travel, the first thing I did was travel to Tsubagakure to check upon my fellow clansmen. What I found was not something that I wish to go through again." She sighed, as memories of her clansmen and women, most prominent of them being a certain benign yet inept ninja, one she could help but feel that she had failed. "All of them were dead. Be they Iga ninja or Kouga ninja. The final battle fought among them costing the life of everyone I knew."

Although her face didn't show it, everyone could feel the melancholy in her voice. Naruto brought her in a sideways hug, knowing how much the death of her clan had affected her. He had seen how despondent she had become when she had seen the dead bodies of her clansmen and women, especially the young girls' who looked like she did not belong to the place.

"Seeing as there was no more of my clan left, I decided to travel alongside Naruto-kun and Jiraiya," she continued, her voice breaking the gloomy milieu. Everyone noticed the lack of any kind of honorific with Jiraiya's name, something that was rather surprising. "I helped Naruto-kun in training whenever the pervert was not around."

Tsunade arched an eyebrow at that, intrigued by this knowledge. "And what did you teach the brat, I can hardly feel any chakra from you, barely more than that of a civilian." This was one thing that had been itching her. She could barely get a feel of her chakra, which should have been impossible unless the person was a civilian. But the way she held herself, the grace and the confidence indicated training.

"And you wouldn't be able to," Akeginu replied with a smirk, not bothering to extricate herself from Naruto. "We Iga and Kouga ninja have just enough chakra for our survival, and we have never deemed it necessary to let it be a cripple. Additionally, my meager chakra levels have helped me many a times, be it infiltration missions or seduction missions as it helps me in blending among the civilians."

"As for what I trained Naruto-kun in," she gave a mysterious smile to the people in the room, most of them stunned by the ramifications of the things that she could do. "I think I would like to keep that a secret. After all, shinobi never reveal their secrets, do they?"

"Of course they don't," Tsunade replied in a mirthful tone, although the effect was somewhat lessened if her twitching eyebrow was any indication. She sighed before rummaging through her desk drawers "The elders are gonna chew my head over this, but what the hell," she grumbled before tossing two hitae-ates at the now gaping ninjas. She registered the surprised look on Fū's face while Akeginu simply quirked her immaculate brow at her action and smirked.

"What did you both think? That I was going to procrastinate about how it was impossible for others to join the village?"

Both of them gave a slow nod in reply, making the busty Hokage snort. "You both have been with these two idiots for a while," ignoring the loud shouts of protest from said idiots, she continued, "and while I can't speak for the brat, I am relatively sure about the skills of the pervert. And if he thinks it is okay for you to join the village, I will allow it. Besides, it's not like I am going to give you both free reign to do whatever you want. For the next six months, you will be under probation, the leader of your team reporting to me."

"It's all right Hokage-sama," Fū chirped happily as she replaced the previous hitae-ate on her right arm with the one given to her by the Hokage. "Naruto-kun and Ero-jiji trust me and I will do my utmost to prove that I am worthy of their trust."

Tsunade smirked at the nickname her teammate had gotten while said teammate grumbled in the background about insufferable brats not respecting their seniors.

"Thank you Hokage-sama," Akeginu gave the Hokage a formal bow, before she stood back up. "But what rank are we supposed to be?"

"As you both are from another village, the most I can do for the both of you before your probation ends is chūnin," Tsunade replied with a shrug. "After the probation, if your team leader recommends, you can apply for the Jōnin rank. I saw Fū so I know that she is easily chūnin level. As for you Akeginu-san, I can hypothesize that you are at least chūnin level, given the fact that you are training the brat."

"Chūnin, yeah right," Jiraiya scoffed, getting the attention of everyone in the room. He decided to elaborate, "I can easily say that just based on kenjutsu, she can defeat a majority of the Jōnin in the village, and that is without taking into account her other skills."

The stunned silence that stretched across the room was eventually broken by Tsunade, who had a shit-eating grin on her face. "I look forward to your time as a shinobi of Konoha, Akeginu-san. I just hope that my faith in you does not go misplaced."

"It won't, Hokage-sama," Akeginu responded with a placid smile as she too tied the hitae-ate on the right arm of her kimono.

"Alright," Naruto clapped his hands seizing everyone's attention once again. "Now what about my promotion?"

Tsunade gazed at the blond for several tense moments, before eventually turning towards Jiraiya. "What do you think? Does he deserve it?"

Ignoring the shout of 'Of course I deserve it' from the person discussed, Jiraiya placed his hand under his chin, in a pensive look. "I think you should be the one to decide that, Hime." He raised his hand to stop her from interrupting. "I know that I know more about his skills as compared to others, but I shouldn't be the only one to assess him. So how about this…let Kakashi battle him and if both of you find him satisfactory, you could promote him as you see fit. This will not only let him re-integrate into the village, but also let Kakashi know first-hand about his skill level should you make him the team leader"

Naruto gave Kakashi a challenging smile. "You sure you want to go through this Kakashi-sensei? I am not the same brat you humiliated those years ago. By the way, I need to get back at you for that. You know that don't you?"

Kakashi gave Naruto an eye smile, before turning back to his precious Icha Icha. "Of course, Naruto. I am excited to see how much my little genin has grown up."

"I am a chūnin, -ttebayo." Naruto shouted before clamping his hands over his mouth. "Damn it. I thought I overcame it."

Shizune moved towards Naruto and patted his head. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun. It is a part of you. It wouldn't do for you to change too much."

"Yeah, I know nee-chan. But still, this tic is something I can do without." Naruto sighed, before grinning. "So, now that I have a few hours before my assessment, I think I'd like to get myself reacquainted with the food of the gods. Can't wait to meet Teuchi-ojisan and Ayame-neechan as well. Have to introduce them to Akeginu-chan and Fū-chan as well." He then turned towards Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, if you come on time, I will give you something Ero-kyofu gave me a couple months ago."

Seeing that he had the man's attention, he rummaged his clothes looking for something before a poof of smoke announced the unsealing of a sealing scroll. As the smoke vanished, Kakashi's visible eye widened to an extreme, his eyebrow vanishing into his hair as he looked at what was in Naruto's hand with utter veneration.

For in his hands was something Kakashi knew wasn't going to be available for the next several months. It was a book, one that was nothing short of the Gospel for the one-eyed shinobi. It had a green cover, with a faceless man crouched in a thinking position, with several shapes drawn alongside it haphazardly.

Kakashi moved towards the Icha Icha Tactics, but just before he could reach the prized book it vanished in a poof of smoke eliciting a loud 'HEY' from the Cyclopic Jōnin. Naruto shook his head, "Remember what I said Kakashi-sensei, be on time and you will be getting this." He could feel the desperation seeping from his sensei and decided to egg him further. He turned towards the window with a mischievous smirk directed towards Tsunade, an action that gained a tic on her face as she knew what he was about to do. Slightly tilting his head towards Kakashi, he spoke, "And just so you know sensei, this book is the first edition with all the chapters, many of which won't be in the subsequent books."

Kakashi lunged, all thoughts about affability lost as he heard the last tidbit, wanting to get hold of the precious book. Just before he reached the blond, he got an eye smile from his student before he jumped from the window and vanished into the streets below, leaving behind a sniveling Kakashi.

Jiraiya, not giving attention to the fact that one of the most powerful Jōnin in the village was currently skulking in the corner with a rain-shadow over his head, turned towards Tsunade with a lecherous grin on his face.

"So…Hime," he began "I really missed you these years. Would you be a sport and give your teammate a hug for old times' sake? Though I would love if we both were wearing nothing for that duration, wouldn't-?"

He hadn't even finished speaking before a kick to the jaws sent him through the office walls spiraling through the sky, most likely to land somewhere in a twitching heap and then miraculously heal within a few minutes. Shizune simply shook her head, knowing that the lecherous Gama-Sennin wouldn't let something like this stop him. She turned around, only to find Tsunade in the room, going through a bottle of sake and heard her master mumbling, "Damn lecher, teaching the brat his ways. Now I'll have two idiots using the window as a damn door."

"Tsunade-sama, where did Fū-san and Akeginu-san go? Weren't they in the room a few moments ago?"

Broken from her cursing, Tsunade straightened, "They went just as the brat escaped. I swear to Kami, him and his lecherous teacher are one day going to be the death of me. I just can't wait till I have to hang up this hat and go back to my binge drinking. Kami do I regret taking this job."

Shizune, having heard this declaration countless times, simply rolled her eyes. "You know Tsunade-sama, now that Naruto-kun is back in the village, you only have to wait a few more years and then pass the hat onto him. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to replace you, don't you think so?"

Tsunade stopped her cursing, the words of Shizune going through her mind. 'He's back.' She thought. 'Only a few more years and then the brat will be ready to take the place most probably. I will be free from the wretched paperwork. FREE. FREE.'

The last part was spoken with a maniacal smile on her face, one that caused Shizune to leave the room, wishing for her mentor's sanity.

XXXXXXXXXX

A few blocks away from the Tower, Naruto shivered with some trepidation. Although there was some excitement in it as well, something that confused him greatly. Having decided to walk to Ichiraku's, he smiled when he sensed two people join his side. He smiled further when he saw that most of the ninjas were treating him nicely with most of them giving him waves as he passed by them.

Most of the civilians, on the other hand, glared at him. Well, most of the female population were doing that. The males, on the other hand, were not too subtly ogling Akeginu and he could literally feel the curses they were spewing at him for traveling beside her. He could see that they wanted to come talk to her, but the kodachi and her posture making them think twice. Although, this didn't bother him anymore, knowing that he had his precious people. Besides, the ninjas acknowledged him and treated him with respect, something which had begun ever since he had defeated not only Neji during the Chūnin exams three years ago, but also protected the village from Gaara during the Oto-Suna Invasion.

He finally reached the one place he had missed the most during his training trip. It was a small shop with flaps on which Ichiraku Ramen was written in bold, red colors. A huge smile came on his face, as he removed the flaps and entered the institution, the pleasant aroma wafting his nose.

"Hello. Welcome to Ichi-" a pleasant female voice began, only to become shock still as she turned to face the newest customer. "N-Naruto?" she asked, her eyes wide open with shock.

"Good to see you didn't forget me Ayame-chan." Naruto spoke well naturedly, only to give a small 'OOFF' as said person barreled into him, hugging him for all his worth.

"You baka…" she nearly shouted, once she had detached herself from the blond and stood straight, arms on her hips and a stern look on her face. "How dare you not inform us where you were all this time? Tou-san and I were worried sick about you. Hokage-sama wouldn't even tell us where you were all this time. Just that your training trip was confidential."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously at the small yet imposing figure. He took that as an opportunity to look over the young woman. She was average heighted, standing at 5ft 2inches, with a gracefully slim body. She had dark brown hair that framed her heart shaped face, with large black eyes plus fair skin. She wore a white chef robes with folded sleeves, a dark blue apron with ribbons tied at the top and a bright white bandanna.

"Um…" he began, seeing he wasn't getting any ramen without an explanation. "Ayame-chan, the thing is, Ero-sennin wanted to keep the entire trip as secretive as possible. So we decided not to tell anyone about our whereabouts. Not even baa-chan knows where we were all this time."

"Was all this caution necessary?"

"Yes. Yes it was, Ayame-chan." Naruto replied in a serious expression, one that caught Ayame offhanded, having never seen the hyperactive blond this serious before.

"All right." She sighed before a smile made way onto her face. "Now how have you been? How did you like travelling? By the way, it seems travelling has suited you. You look quite nice, handsome I must say." It was then that her attention shifted to the two females standing behind him, the black-haired giving smile that exuded grace, while the mint-haired girl gave a jovial smile. "And who are these two?" She covered her mouth with her hands, faux surprise marring her face. "Don't tell me you went and got yourself a harem Naruto-kun!"

"I come with two girls by my side," Naruto began with a twitching eyebrow, "and the first thing you think is that I got myself a harem? What do you think me to be? And a harem? Really?"

"What can you say? I like romantic stories like that." she shrugged before moving towards the duo, leaving a gaping blond behind. "Ohayo, welcome to Ichiraku's. I am Ichiraku Ayame."

"Nice to meet you, I am Akeginu." The black-haired kunoichi replied regally.

"And I am Fū." The former Taki kunoichi chirped. "We both joined Naruto-kun in his travels and have been with him and Jiraiya-sama for a while."

"For a while?" Ayame smiled, before that smile turned mischievous. "What did a handsome young man like you did with these young women Naruto-kun?"

"Don't make me blush, neechan." Naruto commented offhandedly. "I am the same. Just had my growth spurt, got to love teenage hormones for that, and trained like hell the entire time. Besides, if I even tried anything with Akeginu-chan or Fū-chan here, both of them would have my balls. And you should know that any time that I have been with someone, it was only with their consent. Anyways, I loved travelling and now I know why ero-sennin travels so much. Just could have done without all the peeping that he did. He seriously needs to find another source for his 'inspiration'. By the way, whenever he is in town, could not go to the hot springs. Don't want to kill the man for accidentally peeping on you."

Ayame was caught flat footed at the casual way Naruto spoke about everything. She knew, had she said the same a couple years ago, the young boy would blush and stammer like no tomorrow, or shout on top of his lungs about how he would only be with 'his Sakura-chan'. She also noticed how he talked about being with someone, as though he had already partaken in the act.

Naruto seeing the gob smacked look on Ayame's face smirked. He really was enjoying screwing up with people. Perhaps even little too much.

"What happened, Ayame-chan? You seem surprised." He spoke mirthfully as his companions and he took a seat in the ramen stand, but not before he created a sealless Kage Bunshin, who went away from the stand, nitpicking all the way. It had elicited a couple of raised eyebrows from the women, in reply to which he simply gave a mischievous smile.

Understanding that she had been pranked by her surrogate brother, Ayame huffed and with hands placed on her hips made an irate face. "Naruto, you do remember the cost of pranking me or Otou-san, don't you?" Seeing the suddenly paling face, she smirked viciously like a predator seeing its prey. "Maybe I should tell him that your ramen privileges have been suspended for the next two months. That should be an appropriate I guess."

She didn't have time to think anything further as the blond shinobi was almost groveling at her feet, crying out repeatedly about not separating him from his ramen and how he would never even think about teasing his Ayame-chan, much to the amusement of the three women present in the stand.

He finally retreated to his seat after being repeatedly reassured that 'no, his ramen privileges weren't being suspended' and that 'he could come there whenever he wanted'. Ayame soon stepped back into the kitchen and prepared the order for Naruto and his guests. For the thirty or so minutes were a frantic hustle for Ayame as she prepared bowl after bowl for the never ending stomachs that were Naruto and Fū. Akeginu had ordered a single bowl of miso ramen, which she was eating almost imperially, while her companions seemed to be competing over who could eat the most bowls in one sitting, although they did so with etiquettes that she had never seen in the blond before. Naruto soon finished his requisite quota of ramen, a total of 35 bowls, with Fū trailing behind at a still hefty 25 bowls. Ayame smiled at the familiar scene as the blond patted his still flat stomach, something she wished she could do after eating as much food as he had done.

The entire time the eating fest was going on, Ayame used it to get the information from the blond about his travels and how the two ladies had met the ninja and his teacher. She was shocked when she heard how Naruto had saved Akeginu and later on how they had saved Fū, although she did refrain from going into depth regarding Fū's or her original villages, and while Ayame knew that she was not saying everything she knew that the kunoichi had their secrets and it wasn't her business to pry into them.

The trio eventually finished their meal and left the stand leaving behind a gaping Ayame who was holding a huge bundle of cash in her hands, the amount being close to a hundred times the highest tip she had ever gotten. Outside, Naruto smiled before quickly applying a Henge. When asked by his companions, he replied that he wanted to keep the news of his arrival a secret not wanting the news of his evaluation with Kakashi to become a spectacle.

Seeing that he had a while before his evaluation, he decided to act as a tour guide to the two kunoichi by his side and gave them a tour of the village; he showed them various places like the chūnin exam stadium that had been repaired after the failed Oto-Sand Invasion, the parameter of the Forest of Death. He did not like the smile that had formed on Akeginu's face when he had told her about the environment.

He soon arrived at Training Ground Three, fifteen minutes before the required time, the three training posts and the Konoha Memorial Stone bringing back the memories of the first test given to Team 7 by Kakashi and how he was the one to be tied up to that ruddy pole. As he looked at the poles, the very first lesson taught to him by Kakashi came unbidden into his minds.

' _In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash._ '

Any further introspection was prevented as he sensed people entering the clearing. Immediately, he and his companions hid themselves in the trees nearby and suppressed their chakra waiting to see who had arrived. He did not have to wait for long as four people entered the clearing. The first to enter was Tsunade herself, followed by Jiraiya who was nursing a swollen head, most likely having received it from the aforementioned Hokage herself. Behind them was an exasperated Shizune, holding her pet pig Tonton. The last person to enter the clearing was another person who Naruto easily recognized.

It was a girl garbed in a sleeveless, half-qipao top with black gloves, black, low‒heel, calf‒high boots, black shorts underneath a short pink apron skirt, and pink elbow protectors. To finish off the ensemble, she had her hitae-ate tied on her head, as a hairband, on a red cloth. Naruto smiled as he recognized the remaining member of his team, Sakura Haruno.

Meanwhile, said girl had a confused look on her face. "Shishou, what are we doing in the training ground? And seeing that Jiraiya-sama is here, shouldn't it mean that Naruto must be here as well?"

Tsunade turned to reply, only to stop and turn back around. Sakura frowned and was about to ask once again, when another voice this time from behind her spoke, "Wow Sakura, look at you. You look extremely good."

Sakura jumped, startled at the sound, and turned around only to be surprised at recognizing the person. Her mouth opened, but no words came out of it. 'Is that Naruto? How did he come behind me without even me noticing?'

"You know Sakura… if you had been an enemy, you would be dead by now. You really need to take better care of your surroundings." He spoke cheekily.

Sakura, seeing red at the comment, was about to clock back her arm before she was interrupted by the Hokage.

"Sakura, enough." Tsunade spoke firmly. "We are not here for wasting time." She turned towards Naruto, "Brat, you ready for the test?"

"I was ready the moment I entered the Tower baachan." He smirked, before dodging another punch. "Don't hit me before an evaluation baachan. I need to be in top form."

"Cheeky brat." Tsunade muttered. "Sakura, Naruto here is going to be evaluated to become a Tokubetsu Jōnin. I'm sorry brat, but that is the most a Hokage can do without the recommendation of a higher ranked shinobi. And no, Jiraiya doesn't count." She said, knowing that the brat would most certainly whine about it.

The further discussion was interrupted as the Konoha Shunshin declared the arrival of Kakashi, the determined eyes betraying the bored expression he tried to display, with the orange Icha-Icha in his hands. Sighing, he gave everyone his trademark eyesmile and a wave.

"Yo." He spoke in a bored manner. "It seems everyone was on time at least."

'That's the pot calling the kettle black.' Everyone snorted mentally. Naruto decided to speak. "Now, good to see you were on time Kakashi sensei. I wouldn't want to burn a book you know. Anyways, since you are on time you can have it." He took out a familiar green covered book and extended it towards Kakashi who seemed almost ready to pounce at it. However, Naruto retracted it and threw it towards Jiraiya.

Seeing the dismayed look on his sensei's face, he explained, "You can have the book after the evaluation sensei. Don't want your attention diverted to the book during it. Anyhow, I don't think you'd have been able to read a page of it. You wouldn't want it to be damaged during the spar do you?"

Kakashi almost seemed to have lost his composure and ready to attack the blond for keeping him away from his precious book. However the last line caught his attention and he smiled at the boy's confidence.

"Maa maa, Naruto." He began, "Are you sure you want to say that? Isn't that what you said the first time we had a spar?"

The blond's smirk suddenly seemed too vindictive to the Jōnin. "I still have to pay you back for that technique, don't I Kaka-sensei? I just need to warn you that you should take the spar seriously. Wouldn't want the Jōnin Lounge filled with the gossip that you lost to your student because you were not serious, would you?"

Kakashi sighed and shut his book before placing the book in his side pocket. The bored look on his face was still there, however one could see the curiosity in his eye. He turned towards the rest of the group and gave a small nod. Receiving the message that he was ready, everyone jumped and disappeared into the trees, waiting for the spar to begin.

Naruto watched them go. 'Ero-sennin should really take them somewhat further away.' Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he turned towards Kakashi with a determined and confident gaze and spoke in a serious tone, "You will have to use your Sharingan sensei if you wish to win this spar."

The look on his face and the serious tone caused Kakashi to go wide-eyed, as a silhouette of a similar looking shinobi, in a white haori with red flames at its bottom, formed behind Naruto. Kakashi took a deep breath, before his face hardened into a determined look, one that surprised everyone hidden in the trees having not seen that look for a while. He remembered the look on Minato sensei's face. The usually jovial and happy face would turn hard as stone, and it meant nothing but absolute misery whenever he did so.

In the clearing, Kakashi lifted his headband, the three tomoe'd Sharingan visible for everyone to see. Naruto smiled, the anticipation of a good battle waking a certain figure within his mind. Taking a well-practiced stance, he took another deep breath and smiled at Kakashi. "You ready to dance, sensei?"

 **The ending of the first chapter, and I know that many of you might not recognize the character of Akeginu and how she is a part of the Naruto fic. She is in fact a character belonging to the manga/anime Basilisk, and while I know many of you might think that it will make the fic qualify as a crossover. But it should be seen that I am simply using the character of Akeginu and I don't intend to use any more characters from the manga. All the abilities that I intend to use from the fic will mostly be used by Akeginu with the few odd ones being used by Naruto and that too will be in moderation. The sudden addition of Akeginu happened after I read the fic Iga Naruto which I highly recommend. Although it has been nearly three years since the author has updated, so the chance that he will update are extremely slim.**

 **Anyhow, now that the first chapter is over, enjoy the next two as well without any big-ass author notes.**

 **And I will happily state that the fourth and fifth chapter shall be posted within this week.**

 **Ja Ne!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: …Nope, still don't own Naruto. Would have been a millionaire if that were true. Yet, it still belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I simply own my laptop and the few electronic equipment that I own.**

 **CHAPTER 2**

 **Skills, Fight and Explanation**

"…ready to dance, sensei?" Naruto stood in a reactive stance, ready for Kakashi to begin the proceedings. However, he knew that a ninja with his experience would never do that. The fact that he had the Sharingan as well meant he would most rather counter him. The determined look and the traditional Uchiha stance confirming his hypothesis. Naruto sighed, "You know sensei, if you don't come at me, I'll come at you, and trust me, that is the last thing that you want."

The expression on Kakashi's face didn't change, "I'd take my chances, Naruto. Now if your proclamation is over, I think it's time we begin. What do you say?"

Naruto chuckled, "All right, sensei. But don't complain that I didn't warn you." He had barely spoken the words when he vanished. There was no afterimage, no clouds of dust were formed nor were any spider web cracks formed on the ground. One moment he was there and the next he was gone.

Kakashi's eyes widened at the speed. Only the instincts gained from regular spars with Gai and the precognitive ability from the Sharingan made him bring up his left hand to block a punch. He immediately wished he hadn't done so, the power behind the punch making him wince as he was reminded of the Gai's punches. 'Fuck. How the hell is he so fast? He seems as fast as Gai. And how are his punches so powerful?'

He had no time to ponder about his student's growth, as Naruto decided to continue in on his assault. Naruto transitioned from one attack to another, the blond shinobi not giving him any quarter. Kakashi dodged, not wanting to see if the blond's strength was just a fluke. He parried a punch, dodged a kicks and jumped several steps back to avoid a punch that made a small crater where he was standing. He had to immediately bring up his hands to block a kick aimed at his face, the strength of the kick making him wince while he was sent skidding back a few paces.

Naruto crouched, exhibiting that he was about to jump high, only to change course mid-leap. He tumbled forward and rolled, getting inside Kakashi's guard and without giving him a second chance nailed him with a double punch to his chest and stomach. Kakashi crouched over, the force of the punch making him spittle. Naruto seeing an open guard, kicked him in the head, sending him crashing into the trees.

Hidden in the trees, Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura were slack jawed at the display by the blond. Jiraiya smirked and puffed up his chest.

"Why are you looking at Naruto-kun like that?" Akeginu's voice came from behind them taking them by surprise. "Did you not expect him to be as strong as he is?"

Sakura turned around, mentally berating herself for letting someone get the drop on her, in order to talk to the person who had spoken only to stop short when she saw two unknown kunoichi wearing the Konoha hitae-ate. She was about to break the silence and ask who they were and what they were doing there when the silence was broken by Tsunade herself.

The bodacious Kage nodded, her eyes still transfixed on the scene in front of her, "Truth be told, yes." She confessed unabashed. "You didn't see the kid before Akeginu-san…the Naruto we remembered had a lot of conviction, true. But this kind of ability." She was still having difficulty in believing the kid she had last seen throwing wild punches could fight so systematically and with so much grace, flowing from one move to another, in a manner that would make a kunoichi jealous. "And the last move, it truly was something so unpredictable. It was done almost as if to counter the effect of the Sharingan."

"Caught that didn't you, baa-chan?" A familiar voice spoke, making everyone turn around, to be further surprised when an identical blond figure crouched beside them. Seeing the questioning look on Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura's face, he spoke, "I am a clone. Boss created me before the match even began in order to observe whatever mistakes he does. There are a few more scattered throughout the ground to check the spar from every direction."

While the others were marveling at this small but very useful insight, the clone continued, "As I was saying, while training Ero-sennin pointed out that I had to eventually fight a Sharingan user. And the only way to fight a Sharingan user is either to be faster than one or simply do something unexpected."

"And this is where his initial fighting style, or lack of I should say, came in use." Jiraiya chimed in, while puffing up his chest, "He is fast, as you all have seen. But the fact remains, a person experienced with the Sharingan, like Kakashi or Itachi, can properly counter him. So, in order to fight an Uchiha, or in this case a Sharingan bearer like Kakashi, the only thing he can do is be unpredictable. And that is something the brat can do very easily. Therefore, rather than helping Kakashi, the Sharingan instead acted as a crutch."

Shizune, astonished as she was, spoke, "But Jiraiya-sama, how come Naruto-kun was able to punch so hard? There was no chakra in his punches, was there?"

"No, no there wasn't." Tsunade spoke, her calm demeanor betrayed by the astonishment in her voice. "It was raw strength. I don't know how that can happen though. The only person I know who can hit like that without chakra is-"

"Gai." Jiraiya interrupted once again catching everyone's attention, "and most probably his student. Though I think his mini-me has to train a few more years to reach his level."

Sakura was flabbergasted. She had seen Rock Lee and Gai train, and treated them frequently for extremely bad case of muscle tears. 'How has Naruto reached Gai-sensei's level when he has trained even less than Lee?'

The same thoughts were running rampant through the remaining people's mind. Jiraiya, seeing their confused looks, turned towards Tsunade and mentally voiced the question, 'She knows about the brat?' Tsunade having understood, gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head, their experience making it possible for them to speak without the use of words.

"Naruto has sort of a bloodline," he began struggling to put it in words. "He has an advanced healing factor that makes small things like muscles tears heal with a good night's rest. Now think an ability like that combined with the hell of training that Gai does. The result is before your very eyes."

He turned once again towards the clearing, his focus once again on the fight, "And before you ask how Naruto can have a sort of bloodline, know that the answer to that question is an S-Rank secret that I cannot divulge without the express permission of Naruto and Tsu-hime."

This stopped Sakura from any further questions as she too turned her attention towards the field, where Kakashi still had to return to the clearing.

Back in the clearing, Naruto stood alert, knowing that a ninja like Kakashi was not going to go down with just a single punch. His assumption was proven true when the next moment he blocked an overhead kick from said shinobi. From there, the fight recommenced, with Kakashi on the offensive. However, no matter what he tried, Naruto seemed one step ahead of him. He blocked each kick, dodged each punch and parried those he couldn't dodge.

'He's fast', Naruto thought, 'although Ero-kyofu is faster. It's clear he's still holding back.' They broke off, both of them taking a few deep breaths and taking a moment to further steady their heartbeat from the quick yet exhilarating Taijutsu spar.

"Yo, Kakashi sensei" Naruto spoke, his opponent's attention fixed on him, "what do you say we kick it up a notch?" Seeing he had his sensei's undivided attention, he elaborated. "What about a full out spar, with every discipline you know?"

Kakashi seemed surprised at this request. He knew he was holding back, and the way Naruto was fighting, he could tell he was doing the same. A full out spar meant giving his everything. Usually, he wouldn't acquiesce to such requests, but the confidence Naruto was exuding along with the fact that he wanted to see Naruto's strength as well was making him reconsider. Contemplating for a few moments, he gave the blond an eye-smile, "You got it Naruto. But remember you were the one who asked for it."

"You worry about yourself sensei." Naruto replied a cocky smirk on his face as he made a familiar hand sign, creating around four Kage Bunshin. "Ready for round two then?"

Without waiting for a reply, the clones quickly surrounded the Jōnin and attacked in unison. Kakashi would have reminisced about the first time his cute genin had used the same tactic, if only he didn't have to concentrate on the small gang of clones with the boy himself mixed in. The hodge-podge of a premeditated taijutsu assault was highly coordinated, at least he gave that.

While the clones were good, any chūnin, heck he knew many Jōnin would have been unable to manage against the kid. Unfortunately for Naruto's plan, Kakashi was fast enough, and with the Sharingan, aware enough to dodge every attack sent his way. He side stepped an axe kick, dodged the jab of another before bouncing back from a kick from above. Instincts, gained from years of experience, made him take another leap as the final Naruto, most probably the original, punched the ground where he was standing not a moment ago.

The result was something he hadn't expected from the blond ever. He knew the boy had raw power. But he cursed as the ground was torn asunder, the single punch creating a massive spider web, followed by the destruction of the ground within a fifteen feet radius. As he was crouched in the trees, shocked at seeing the power, Naruto spoke, "Tch, still waste a lot of chakra in that technique."

"Naruto," Kakashi began tentatively still perched upon the tree observing the carnage, "What technique are you talking about?" He knew the answer to that, after all his other cute genin had learned the same technique. He just wanted to hear those dreaded words from the horse's mouth.

Naruto took a look at the destruction, his attention never wavering from Kakashi, "Oh you know the answer to that sensei." He gave Kakashi a knowing grin, "Anyways, took me a hell lot of a time to learn-"

"My super strength." a dazed Tsunade spoke, while Shizune and Sakura had a flabbergasted expressions on their faces. Jiraiya grinned seeing their expression. Though he pitied Kakashi if he got hit by one of those. He could still feel the phantom pain from the last time the brat hit him.

"He learned my super strength." Tsunade spoke still in her daze. She turned towards Jiraiya," How did he learn my super strength? He had the worst chakra control I had ever seen. And I have seen many people with bad control, you included."

Jiraiya put on a mock hurt expression, while placing a hand on his chest, "You wound me, Hime. And here I thought you loved me so much. How could you be so heartless?"

"Jiraiya," Tsunade spoke with tight lips, her eyebrows twitching violently, "Tell me how the brat learned to use that with his shoddy control."

"Meh," Jiraiya shrugged her off, "You are speaking as though something like that is ever going to stop that kid. You do remember that he learned Rasengan with that level of control? And he has had me, the Gallant Jiraiya, as his teacher. Of course he would learn something as awesome and badass as 'his Baa-chan's super strength', his words not mine."

"But how can he use the technique?" Sakura nearly shouted. "I needed so many months of practice, growing my chakra levels and even then releasing that much chakra at once from one specific tenketsu? Naruto never had that much chakra control."

"Ah" Jiraiya sighed, his face exuberating happiness and pride, "The answer to that question will have to wait till the end of the spar I'm afraid. Now, let me bask in my awesomeness at creating another powerhouse shinobi."

Sakura was about to shout at the self-proclaimed super pervert, when another shout caught her attention.

" _ **Ts**_ _ **ū**_ _ **tenkyaku**_ _,"_ Naruto shouted high in the air, his right leg extended forward, ready to descend mercilessly on the ground. The next moment, another crater was formed as the entire clearing shook from the shockwave, forcing the people hidden in the trees to apply chakra lest they should fall. Kakashi, knowing that blocking the kick was tantamount to suicide, simply dodged. He was surprised when Naruto pulled out five shuriken and launched them at the Jōnin, immediately followed by a few hand seals.

" _ **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."**_

The five immediately transformed into fifty, the hailstorm of shuriken descending upon Kakashi, who took out his own kunai, deflecting those that came too close while dodging the rest. He once again jumped back, dodging a jumping kick from the blond and went through a large number of hand seals at an almost inhuman pace.

" _ **Suiton:**_ _ **Suiry**_ _ **ū**_ _ **dan no Jutsu.**_ _ **"**_ Immediately, an enormous volume of water rose from the nearby lake, which quickly morphed into the shape of a streamlined dragon, one which Naruto realized was far larger than the one Kakashi had used in his battle with Zabuza. Its eyes flashed yellow, before opening its maw, it rushed towards the blond shinobi. Naruto quickly went through his own hand seals.

" _ **Doton: Dory**_ _ **ū**_ _ **heki.**_ _ **"**_ __A huge wall, at least twenty five feet tall, rose from the ground. Although Kakashi was surprised to see the wall, he was more surprised at the large fox shaped figurehead, reminiscent of the Kyūbi no Kitsune, with its maw wide open. The water dragon collided with the figurehead, the two battling for domination.

The dragon had barely dissipated, when Naruto jumped from behind the wall, ready to continue with his attack, only to stop short, unable to find his sensei. He jumped down, his senses on high alert, searching for any sign of his sensei, before Kyūbi shouted out loud

" _ **Beneath you brat!"**_

Without even a second's hesitation, he jumped and was surprised to find a pair of arms sticking out from underneath from where he was standing, all the while cursing himself for not checking underground.

" _ **Suiton:**_ __ _ **Mizurappa**_ _ **."**_ Naruto cursed once again, as a powerful shot of water collided with his back, the force of the shot enough to push him several yards. He righted himself just before he could collide with the lake. He once again took a stance, ready for any further attack, his senses once again on high alert.

"Decided to fight like a true shinobi, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked out loud, wanting Kakashi to give away his position.

Kakashi seemed to know what was going through his mind, as a voice rang out throughout the clearing, "Maa maa, Naruto. Do you seriously think that trick is going to work? You are not the first person to do that you know? Just because you have seen me fight a person head on doesn't mean I don't know how to fight from the shadows. We ninjas thrive in the shadows. It's in the shadows that our true abilities come out."

"You know sensei", Naruto began, before he turned towards the trees and taking out a handful shuriken, created a clone.

Throwing the shuriken, he immediately went through a few hand seals while his clone went through another set.

" _ **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."**_

" _ **Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken."**_

As soon as the attacks were called out, the handful shuriken turned into several dozen and soared above the canopy. Kakashi didn't have time to properly react at his location being discovered as the shuriken stopped mid-air, only to rain down hundreds of bolts of electricity. Using a hasty Kawarimi, Kakashi switched places with a log.

" _ **Suiton:**_ _ **Suiry**_ _ **ū**_ _ **dan no Jutsu.**_ _ **"**_ __

Only for the water dragon to engulf him, the force of nature carrying him and colliding with the previously created mud wall, the force of the current attack enough to destroy the structure. The wave eventually stopped, the thoroughly soaked body of Kakashi lying in the ground.

Naruto cautiously approached the body, intent at making his sensei forfeit the match. He had barely reached when the body turned into electricity, the electricity coursing through the water present on the ground and hitting the blond making him yelp as several volts of electricity coursed through his body.

He barely dodged when a blade passed the place where his head was situated, a white streak travelling with the blade as it swung. He quickly turned around, only to be shocked at the scene before him. Standing in front of him was Kakashi, but the thing that shocked him was the weapon that he held in his right hand. It was a straight-bladed tantō with a small, circular hand-guard.

He recognized the blade, he knew that quite a few would recognize it. After all, the blade once belonged to a person who had been praised by his father and was said to be on par with the Legendary Sannin. It was the White Light Chakra Saber, blade of Hatake Sakumo, renowned throughout the Nations as the White Fang of Konoha.

Hidden in the trees, Jiraiya turned towards Tsunade, "When did he restart using the saber? And wasn't it broken?"

Tsunade chuckled, "He got it repaired in a mission to Tetsu no Kuni. Told us he wanted to carry on his father's legacy."

"Well…" the clone by their side spoke up, "In that case, you guys will like what boss has in store for this round."

Tsunade, surprised at the confidence at the clone's voice, gave him a questioning glare. The clone didn't budge an inch, nor did his two companions show any kind of emotions as to what the clone was hiding, and smiled in reply further aggravating the busty kage. He whistled innocently, before focusing on a tree towards his left, "I know you cannot wait to see Kakashi sensei use his Saber, Neko-chan. But you seriously need to project it less, ya know. I can feel you all the way from here and I'm just a clone."

Nothing happened but he could feel embarrassed blush on the leader of Ro Han, the elite ANBU team and Hokage's personal guard. He turned towards Tsunade, "Oi Baa-chan" he called out, much to the ire of the Hokage, "You think Neko-chan can join us for this? I know she is going to have a few questions through this part. And I'd like to see the person that I'm talking to rather than feel like talking to a tree like an idiot."

"You are already an idiot," Tsunade called out loud, not paying any attention to the look of indignation on the clone's face. She then turned towards the trees, "Neko, permission granted to show yourself and talk freely."

Not a moment later, a figure landed beside the group, crouched with her head bowed down. "At ease." Tsunade called out, the ANBU immediately standing up, the standard uniform doing nothing to hide her voluptuous figure while her long, purple hair cascaded down to her back.

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama." The woman spoke, before turning towards the clone, "clone-san the way you are saying as though Uzumaki-san is going to fight against Kakashi-senpai in kenjutsu."

The clone winced, "Please, Neko-chan, no need to use any honorific with me. The same goes for boss as well. You can simply call me Naruto." He smiled before his tone turned mischievous, "Or it would be better if you called us Naruto-kun. And baa-chan, please don't pummel me, I'm trying to observe any mistakes boss makes." He once again turned towards the ANBU, "And you're correct in your assumption, Neko-chan. However I think you'll be more interested in the sword that he uses."

"So the brat is going to use it?" Jiraiya interjected.

"Yup." The clone replied, a huge grin on his face.

Most of the people gave a perplexed look due to the cryptic nature of the small exchange. Although, Tsunade did notice the small sigh that escaped Akeginu's mouth.

Back at the clearing

"Damn, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whistled, "Didn't know you still used the Saber."

Kakashi arched an eyebrow, before giving his usual eye-smile, "You recognized the blade, Naruto?"

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah, ero-sennin made me study a lot of famous ninjas and their weapons. And I must say I must have been an idiot for not studying the famous ninjas of Konoha at least. And one who studies about Konoha cannot not know about The White Fang."

"Nevertheless, I think you'll like what I have in store for kenjutsu users." He channeled some chakra into a miniscule storage seal in his pants, and a poof of smoke signified the unsealing of something, the smoke hiding the weapon from everyone's view. The most Kakashi could tell was that it was a large weapon. The smoke soon vanished, the entire clearing silent as every person recognized the sword. It was a massive broadsword shaped like a giant butcher knife. The blade itself has two cut outs, a circle close to the top and a semi‒circular one nearer the handle.

The Kubikiribōchō, a sword Kakashi was highly intimate with, having fought the previous owner of said sword, Zabuza Momochi, three years ago. His attention shifted to Naruto, the blond grinning as though having won the lottery. "Naruto, please tell me you didn't rob Zabuza's grave just to get his sword."

Naruto became serious as soon as he heard the words. "Kakashi, do you think I'd do something as vile as that, even after what Zabuza did and the lesson that Haku taught me? I had gone to visit the gravesite while passing through Nami along with Ero-sennin. When I went there I found that sword was stolen. We later found out it was stolen by someone named Tenzen Daikoku. We hunted him down and took the sword back. I wanted to take it back but Ero-sennin advised against that."

"We had already seen that the sword could be stolen and he told me that no matter what seals I used, there was a high chance that the seals could be broken. So he told me to hold onto it until I get the chance to go to Kiri and give it back to the Mizukage."

Kakashi's tensed shoulders relaxed hearing this. He did not want to think of his student as a grave robber, someone that was thought of worst of scum. He smiled once again, "Good to hear that Naruto. Now if you are done showing off your huge sword, what do you say? Should we start round three?"

Naruto chuckled, "Sensei, what made you think round two was over? A ninja uses whatever tools he can while fighting. When I fight, I'm not going to fight individual rounds based on each discipline." His smile grew larger, "Now… let's begin."

Kakashi blurred from Naruto's vision, Naruto's sharp reflexes making him bring his sword forward, as white chakra streaked, Kubikiribōchō and Saber clashing against one another. Kakashi, knowing that he could not afford a battle of attrition with his student, jumped backwards, ready for any attack by Naruto. 'He moved the sword quite fast and that too without any extra force. It seems he's used to fighting with the sword.'

He did not have time to think any further as Naruto once again came at him, the giant sword slashing at him, his speed increasing constantly. Each swing was methodical, no energy wasted as each swing of the sword transitioned into the next. White chakra streaked throughout the clearing as Kakashi used his experience to fight the chūnin who had an advantage of strength and speed on him. And the sword, after all who could forget the giant ass sword.

The spar continued between them, Naruto using the size and momentum gained from swinging Kubikiribōchō to score a hit while Kakashi used the agility and short size of his sword to enter Naruto's guard and strike him. Kakashi backed up against a tree and Naruto took another swing, wanting to finish the fight. At the last moment, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke, a log taking his place.

Mid-swing, Naruto realized his mistake. Behind Kakashi was a large tree, one among the countless trees grown within Hi no Kuni by the Shodaime Hokage. He knew that despite its size and the momentum, the sword would not be able to cleave the tree and was bound to get stuck. Kakashi had tricked him.

So, he did the only thing he could. He channeled wind chakra through the blade, the newfound power enough for the sword to slice the entire tree. Canceling the wind chakra, he quickly turned around and swung the sword, just in time to clash with Kakashi's Saber. He took one hand off the sword, his strength still sufficient for him to keep Kakashi on a stalemate, and quickly went through a dozen single handed seals. Kakashi, having decided to not be surprised any further, decided to take no chance and jumped back, just as Naruto called out.

" _ **Sensatsu Suish**_ _ **ō**_ _ **."**_

Kakashi gave a sigh of relief, as senbon needles made of water descended the place where he was standing not a moment ago, Naruto having jumped back as well. He turned towards Naruto, only to balk as Naruto stood, in an all too familiar pose, his right hand in a half ram seal while his left hand extended above his head.

" _ **Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu."**_

Up in the trees, everyone was stunned into silence. Silence that was eventually broken by Neko, "Sorry if I sound too much like Anko Hokage-sama, but Me Want Him."

Jiraiya started bawling, shouting incoherently about how it was unfair that his student was going to win over the beautiful ANBU and how he was proud to have the brat as his student.

Tsunade was scowling at the pervert, while simultaneously was proud that the brat had progressed so much. Shizune and Sakura were simply astonished at the growth rate that the blond was showing.

Kakashi sighed, 'Of course he has to know the one technique that can take advantage of my Sharingan. Now if he only knows the Silent Killing and the entire package will be complete.'

It seemed as though fate was out for the Jōnin, as a voice rang through the already dense mist, "Eight points, heart, larynx, pharynx… ah fuck it, Zabuza was way better at this kind of stuff. Kakashi-sensei, you know that you are fucked right now. In order to dissipate this mist, you will have to use a wind jutsu while overpowering my chakra present in the mist. And we both know that is virtually impossible due to the potency of my chakra. Even if you try to use a genjutsu, you must know that my defense mechanism overcomes almost everything."

"Now, do you want to forfeit? Whatever happens, you must know that the spar will end with my next move."

"My Naruto, don't you seem too confident in your abilities?" Kakashi asked, and Naruto could almost feel the eye-smile on his face. "You know that even though I'd rather read the Icha Icha, Tsunade-sama will flay me alive if I forfeit. And it doesn't matter that you have learnt her super strength, she still hits way harder than you do. Besides, how do you intend to finish the spar in the next move?"

A few moments of silence passed before Naruto sighed, "As you wish." A poof of smoke was heard throughout the clearing, making Kakashi tense in anticipation. It was quickly followed by another pair of poofs. Not a second later Kakashi felt several blades poking and resting on various parts of the body, all of them lethal. The mist slowly dissipated, revealing six Narutos, each of them holding a kodachi, the blade seemed to be made of the blackest obsidian all the while maintaining an unnatural kind of shine to it.

"H-How?" Kakashi was astounded. 'I didn't even feel him approach. How did he sneak up on me? Even Zabuza wasn't this good with the Silent Killing.'

The Naruto holding the blade to his jugular chuckled, "I'm not that good with the Silent Killing Kakashi sensei. And no, I'm not reading your mind. Just your expression says it so. Now, will you please forfeit? I want to meet everyone else and I know you are dying to read the book."

Kakashi chuckled, "You truly have grown Naruto. Defeating me in this spar."

Naruto shrugged, "We both know that you were holding back. And while I may have shown a few tricks, you have an arsenal full of them. Other than that, you didn't take me seriously despite your demeanor. Mind you, that still might not be sufficient."

Kakashi, still smiling, was intrigued, "Ah, and why is that my cute little chūnin?"

Naruto's eye twitched, "Not a chūnin for long sensei. If baa-chan still doesn't promote me I promise the last week of pranks will be nothing in comparison to what I'll unleash ahead. And I'm neither cute not little. I'm supposed to be ruggedly handsome or manly, not cute, dattebayo. As for why I'm so sure about my victory, if I don't believe in myself who else will. Besides, ero-sennin has trained me to fight S-Rank shinobi, who are out there to kill me, most of them unknown. And I don't intend to just roll up and die. If they want to get Naruto Uzumaki, they will have to ready for the fight of their lives."

Kakashi, hearing the proclamation, couldn't help but feel proud of his student. Here was a person who had nine S-Rank ninjas coming after him, and instead of being a coward and griping about the unfairness of life, he toughs it out and prepares for them.

"Alright, Naruto." Kakashi smiled, not at all embarrassed that he had just been defeated by a ninja fifteen years his junior. "I guess I'll have to forfeit the match. But don't think I'll let you go without an explanation, the growth in your skills have been beyond anyone's expectations. Isn't that right, Tsunade-sama?"

Naruto's face split into a large grin as he turned towards the people who had just entered the clearing, "Hey everyone… did you guys enjoy the fight? And longtime no see Sakura, Neko-chan."

"Same to you too, Naruto." Sakura gave a terse reply, noticing the lack of usual 'chan' that he used to call her.

"Nice to see you as well, Uzumaki-san." Neko replied in a professional tone.

"You just had to use that abomination, didn't you?" Akeginu asked, irritation marring her voice

"Aw, come on Neko-chan." Naruto whined, "You have known me since before I joined the Academy. You called me Naru-kun then, why can't you call me that now?" he turned his attention towards the black haired kunoichi that was still glaring at him, "And you know Akeginu-chan that I use it more or less as an intimidating factor. People recognize the sword and the carnage that it has caused. Kakashi-sensei himself has fought the sword and knows how dangerous it can be. You saw how he became wary when I used the sword didn't you?"

"That doesn't change the fact that the sword is a slur in the name of kenjutsu." Akeginu remarked, her eyes narrowed in disgust.

"It is a tool, Akeginu-chan," Naruto shrugged, "and you yourself have said to do whatever it takes to secure a win. Besides, you know that I won't use it that often." He then turned his attention back towards the Cat-masked ANBU as though waiting for some kind of reply.

"I am sorry Uzumaki-san, but in the presence of Hokage-sama I am to behave as professionally as possible." The masked ANBU replied stoically, after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh, you mean to say that you will call me Naru-kun when off duty?" Naruto replied in a mischievous tone. "What do you say about joining me for a lunch at Ichiraku's? And don't worry about paying, it will be on me."

Although there was no visible effect of his words on the ANBU, Naruto could almost feel the raised eyebrows that she was directing towards him. He did not have any more time to think about it as he deflected the incoming hand, striking at the black elbow guarding, making the owner of said hand lose her balance, as he himself took a couple of steps back.

"Sakura," he sighed, "You were there just now watching me fight Kakashi sensei and I still have enough in me for another fight. And if you think that I'll let you hit me then I'm sorry to say that you are sadly mistaken."

Sakura stood there, stunned for a moment, before she turned towards Naruto with a glare in her face, "Should've known you'd turn into a pervert, you baka."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "So the fact that I asked Neko-chan out on a date turns me into a pervert? Just because I'm a guy and I show an interest in someone I'm a pervert? So tell me Sakura, what should I do? Stalk a girl everywhere she goes and eventually make her so pissed at me that she either goes on a date or complains about me?"

Sakura lowered her head, thoroughly abashed. Naruto sighed, not wanting to upset his teammate, "Sakura, if I ask someone on a date it's my personal business. Besides I have just asked for a date, it's not that I've asked her to sleep with me."

Sakura gave the blond a scandalized look, one which the boy ignored before once again turning once again towards the masked ninja, waiting for a reply. All the while Jiraiya was there, taking down notes at a frantic pace and mumbling about 'gaki being gold' and 'muse for the next decade'. Tsunade rubbed her forehead, although inside she was somewhat happy that her pseudo-brother was over his obsession for her trigger happy, second apprentice.

Not wanting the situation to escalate, she rubbed her forehead, "Shut it down, brat. Stop asking my ANBU for a date. Right now we need to head back to my office to see about your promotion. Moreover, I need answers as to how you learnt so much in so less a time. And no," she interrupted the blond from speaking, "you are not allowed to stop for a small lunch, or even a snack. And Kami help me, if you are not just behind me when I enter the office, any previous pain you have felt will feel like a love tap in comparison to the thrashing I will give you." With that she shunshined away, but not before muttering about 'goddamn brats giving her a goddamn headache'.

She was immediately followed by the masked ANBU who vanished without a trace. The rest of the people in the clearing quickly followed, not wanting to face the wrath of an irate Hokage.

Everyone appeared within the Hokage's office, only to find said leader gulp down an entire bottle of sake. Jiraiya took his usual place, leaning on the wall near the desk, while Kakashi took his place on the windowsill. Naruto whistled, "Damn Baa-chan, you surely have a high alcohol tolerance."

Tsunade scoffed, "Of course I do brat. I am not a lightweight like your pervert of a teacher." She purposefully ignored the self-proclamation of Jiraiya calling himself a super-pervert. "Anyhow, we are not here to talk about my tolerance. First of all, congratulations on your promotion. You are now a Tokubetsu Jōnin."

Naruto who had puffed up his chest hoping to get a Jōnin rank, face faulted. "What the hell Baa-chan? Are you going senile with your old age?" A paperweight barreled into his face, making him grunt as a few teeth fell out into his palms. He gave them to Shizune, who had a worried look on her face, "Don't worry Shizune-neechan, they'll grow back in a couple of hours." He refocused his attention on Tsunade, "And why the hell am I not being promoted to Jōnin Baa-chan? I know I showed enough skill and strength out there."

"You are not being promoted to Jōnin brat," she began as slowly as though talking to a kid.

A big, dumb kid.

"Because to make that jump from chūnin to Jōnin, some things are required. What those things are I won't say, but just know that will come only after you have done several missions with your and a few other teams. And while the pervert says that you have been with Akeginu-san and Fū-san for a while, I don't know about them or their skills as a team As a Hokage, this is the highest rank that I can give you without showing any favoritism."

Naruto grumbled, knowing that the only experience he had working as a team was with Akeginu and Fū, and that would not be accepted in Konoha. Especially given the fact that whatever missions he had done so far had needed negligible teamwork.

Tsunade, seeing the now Tokubetsu Jōnin sulk could only shake her head in amusement. He truly was just a kid. She placed her hands on her desk and crossed her fingers, "Brat, sulk after you complete the meeting. Now I think everyone here has some questions that need to be answered."

Naruto sighed, before a confident grin came on his face, "All right, I'll answer what I can."

"How did you manage to learn three elemental manipulation in three years? Usually it takes it a few years just to master one element and you mastered three." Kakashi, the ever lazy Jōnin, was the first to ask the question much to the surprise of everyone present.

"Actually…" Naruto began, "I have only mastered two of them." Seeing that he had the complete attention of the room, he shrugged, "Wind and water. They were my primary affinities. I am currently training to master earth and I have already completed the first stage for its manipulation and Ero-sennin has already told me how to completely master it. It may take a while, but I am confident that I can get it done. As for how I was able to do this in such a less amount of time," here the blond gave an ear-splitting grin before continuing, "I have two words for you, Kage. Bunshin."

The simple statement caught everyone except Sakura off guard, who was simply looking at everyone, confusion marring her face. "What does it mean, Naruto?" Sakura asked, before turning to everyone else, "Why do you all look like that? While I believe that Kage Bunshin is an excellent clone technique, what does it have to do with Naruto's growth?"

"Girl, everyone is shell-shocked because there is one facet of Kage Bunshin that is unknown by most who don't know the technique." Seeing her confused look Jiraiya continued, "Kage Bunshin was invented by the Nidaime for the sole purpose of spying and infiltration. When a clone is dispelled, everything that the clone learns is transferred back to the original."

Seeing that she was still confused about that particular facet, he elaborated "Now think of it this way, you and your clone practice a technique for an entire day. At the end of the day, when you dispel the clone, whatever experience your clone gains, the same is gained by the original."

"Now tell me, do you remember how many clones this brat created anytime that he fought?" Sakura's eyes widened as she realized how many clones Naruto spammed, her expression making Jiraiya smile wider. "Yes, I see that you understand how much he can truly train. And since then his chakra levels have grown so large that I can easily say that he has more chakra than everyone else in this room combined."

"Wh-what is the largest number of clones he has spammed, Jiraiya-sama?" Shizune croaked.

Naruto took a thinking pose, before answering in a nonchalant manner, "Since the last couple of months I have been regularly using around eight hundred to a thousand clones on a daily basis."

"Eight hundred to a thousand." Kakashi intoned almost hypnotically. Tsunade took the exact moment to explode, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND? THOUSAND CLONES? DID YOU NOT THINK ABOUT THE KIND OF STRESS YOUR MIND HAS TO GO THROUGH?"

Naruto was feeling somewhat guilty at this, but still stood resolutely. "Calm down Baa-chan." He spoke, catching her off guard, "Of course I knew about the disadvantages, Ero-sennin told me about it. But Kyūbi took care of that. He said that just the presence of his chakra boosted my regeneration, preventing any mental damage. Besides, I told you I used a thousand clones a few months ago to finish learning a few necessary skills. I need whatever edge I can get to fight Akatsuki, and the Kage Bunshin was one thing that I couldn't not use."

"Naruto," Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples, inwardly cursing the blond for his lack of self-preservation. "You will have to go through a mental checkup. We will have to see whether the overuse of technique has caused any permanent damage or not. You just know how to make my day worse, don't you?"

"Baa-chan," Naruto started, "I promise I am alright. If I ever feel any kind of strain or anything, you know I'll come to you guys. But till then you must know that I will train till I collapse, because no matter what I won't let the Akatsuki complete whatever plan they are plotting."

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura began cautiously, having never seen her teacher so angry before. "What did Naruto mean by the Kyūbi helping him? And what is this Akatsuki?"

"You haven't told her?" Naruto inquired, surprised. "I thought the law dictates that everyone above the rank of chūnin knows about it?"

"Jōnin," Kakashi replied, getting a confused look from Naruto, "Everyone above the rank of Jōnin is informed. The chūnin who know are mostly those that were born before the incident."

Naruto nodded, "Tell Sakura about it after this meeting, would you Baa-chan?" A thoughtful look came across his face before he continued, "You know what? I think it would be better if you just told everyone about the Kyūbi."

Tsunade gave him a bizarre look, "Why on earth would you want that?"

Naruto smirked, "Because it's getting obnoxious to keep a secret, and it's a bad secret at that. Everybody knows except for the kids, and if there's one thing I hate it's badly kept secrets. You might as well just let people talk about it at this point."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto somewhat proudly, he was taking his burden head-on and just pressing the issue on it instead of trying to sweep it away. It was common knowledge that for those that didn't know Naruto but knew of him that the Kyūbi would always be the proverbial elephant in the room, "What about the haters kid?"

Naruto scoffed, "If anyone has any problems with it I can keep myself safe at this point. If any of the people my age have a problem with it they obviously don't care or know me enough to tell the difference between me and a demon and anyone that has enough of a problem to actually try something should have done it when I could barely fight back, I just defeated Hatake Kakashi by myself. Let that little bit of info fly when you tell the village and see if anyone is still stupid enough to try anything on me. They couldn't get into my house anyway after I set up the security seals. Besides, ever since I defeated Gaara and brought Baa-chan back, most of the shinobi have at least some respect for me."

Kakashi looked over the blonde who had a confident look on his face, "Well it's your secret to tell I guess. It would make at least one less secret the village has to keep anyway."

Naruto nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and when Akatsuki tries something on me the village will at least know why I'm tearing it apart fighting in the middle of it instead of just being confused about it."

Sakura stood there, confusion marring her face, as the people around her talked, what she understood was a secret, about Kyūbi. Since it revolved around her teammate, she thought she at least deserved to know about it. "Um, Shishou," she began, getting everyone's attention, "What secret are you guys talking about?"

"Ah! Forgot you were here for a second," Naruto replied, a sheepish expression on his face. Similar expressions were on everyone's face as they had also forgotten about the pinkette being in the room. Naruto decided to simply lay it down and not wait for the Hokage. Hey, it was his secret so it was his decision who knew about it.

"Sakura, what do you know about jinchūrikis?"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, "Not much I can say. Not much information is available. Mostly the gist as to how they are supposed to be ninjas within whom Bijū are sealed and who are capable of utilizing the demon's chakra and are supposed to be extremely powerful ninja. What does that have to do with-" Her eyes widened as the conversation came back to her. "You are the Kyūbi's jinchūriki?"

"Yep." Naruto replied all too cheerfully, "Have been ever since the day of my birth. The Yondaime sealed Kyūbi me due to the fact that I was the only Uzumaki child in Konoha. Any other kid would have died in my place."

Sakura still seemed to be reeling from shock, before Naruto dropped the next bomb. "And you must know this Sakura, the reason Ero-sennin took me out to train was because currently there are nine S-Rank ninjas across the Nations that are gunning to defeat the various jinchūriki so that they can extract the Bijū within them. Why? We don't know but we can be sure of the fact that whatever they plan isn't going to be good for anyone."

Noticing that she was not responding, Naruto sighed, before mumbling "I shouldn't have told her about Akatsuki as well. She didn't need to know about them. Hey Shizune neechan," he called out getting the medic-nin's attention, "You think you could take Sakura to her home? I think she is in some kind of shock." Shizune nodded and made her way to Sakura. "And could you take Fū-chan to the Aburame clan?" Seeing her questioning glance, he continued, "I would have taken her to stay with me but my home has been closed for the last three years." This was a lie. He had been staying there for the past week, but now he needed some alone time for a couple of days and discuss a few things with Akeginu. "Besides, due to the nature of Nanabi, she can easily stay with insects and she will feel more comfortable among them."

Fū, who had stayed in the background throughout the entire dialogue came forward excitedly, "I can't wait to meet the Aburame. Aren't they supposed to be the best in the use of insects throughout the Nations? It will be so good to be able to meet people who use insects like me. Maybe we can even share ideas?" She turned towards Naruto, "Didn't you tell me about the Aburame clan heir being in your same class? Maybe we could be friends?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck, "I wasn't that close to Shino per se, but I think he'd be happy to meet someone like you."

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Shizune smiled, "I'll tell Shibi-sama about Fū-chan once I drop Sakura in her house. I think he'll find it refreshing to find someone so fond of his clan."

Placing a hand on Sakura's still shoulder and placing the other on Fū's, she vanished in Shunshin. This time it was Neko who spoke, "Uzumaki-san, the kenjutsu style that you were using, it was extremely similar to the ones I have seen a few samurai use. Am I right to assume that you have learned kenjutsu from a samurai?"

Naruto looked towards Akeginu, who gave a quick nod, an action that wasn't missed by the remaining people present in the room. "I should have known you'd recognize the style Neko-chan. You always were the perceptive one," he chuckled. "Yes, I learned kenjutsu from a samurai. However I'm sorry to say that I cannot tell you who the person is. He already took a great risk when he decided to teach me. Besides, the only thing he taught me was the basis of kenjutsu, none of the techniques that the samurai use. They truly are an ingenious bunch, you know. They use just one kind of blade but are capable of using any blade they want."

"Moreover, he was only able to teach me for six months and get me started in kenjutsu. Most of the techniques that I learned and the practice that I got was through Akeginu-chan." The attention of the room turned towards the black haired kunoichi who seemed impervious by the attention she was getting.

Neko turned her attention back towards Naruto, intent on asking another thing, one that Naruto seemed to have anticipated. "Sorry, Neko-chan, but I already promised sensei that I will not teach anyone their style. He only taught me to prepare for the eventual clash with Akatsuki members. Even he knows that such an organization cannot be good for any Nation."

He could see the ANBU visibly deflate at being eschewed, but his promise to his teacher was way too precious for him than a person's feeling. "But if you want Neko-chan, I shall be ready for a kenjutsu spar whenever possible. Ero-sennin isn't a good kenjutsu user, so most of my practice has been against clones, Akeginu-chan and Fū-chan. Training against good kenjutsu user will help a lot." This seemed to be the right thing to say as he could feel the excitement exuding from the masked-nin.

"Now that another facet of your skills have been disclosed, what more can you tell us brat?" Tsunade asked.

"Eh…" Naruto shrugged, "Not much to say, truth be told. Ero-kyofu already told you about my sealing skills. What he didn't tell you was that most of it belongs to the previous clan head, Ashina Uzumaki."

"What do you mean by that, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, curious about that tidbit.

"The thing is, while it is true we found lots of sealing knowledge in the catacombs below Uzu, the main thing that I found was a specific seal, created by Ashina himself, most probably before Uzu fell. The thing that it did was transfer about thirty years of sealing knowledge, knowledge that belonged to Ashina himself into someone belonging to the clan head's family. Accidentally, I activated the seal and the knowledge was stored in my mind, making me the clan heir, and due to the lack of a clan head, the clan head."

"You just can't let me live in peace, can you, Naruto?" Tsunade asked massaging her temples. "Danzō will most probably do anything to get his hands on the knowledge."

"Huh," Jiraiya scoffed, "the Warhawk may try whatever he wants. The only way he gets the Uzumaki scrolls is over my dead body. I've given all the scrolls to the toads so that they can safely secure it, and we know that stealing something from them is nigh impossible. Besides, asking that particular knowledge is akin to asking clans for their secrets, and we know how that will go with the other clans."

"Besides," Naruto added, "I have proven through blood that I am the legitimate heir to Ashina-ojisan not just as an Uzumaki, but also a legitimate clan heir. Had anyone else activated the seal, their entire mind would have turned to mush and they'd be dead in a few hours, the blood seals were so dangerous. Come to think of it," he mused as he focused his attention on Tsunade, "you would have passed the seal as well seeing as you are Mito-baachan's granddaughter."

"And still your glorious brain decided to test their efficiency." Tsunade spoke dryly with a twitch in her eyebrow.

"Hey," Naruto defended himself, "it's not like I did so voluntarily. I told you it was an accident. Besides, it ended up in my favor didn't it?"

"And had you not been the legitimate heir? Did you even give a single thought to that?" Tsunade rebutted, although there was some genuine concern in her voice that the others decided to ignore, rather than point it out and get pummeled.

Naruto just smiled sheepishly at that, no reply for that anyhow. He decided to simply change the topic, "Anyways, the knowledge that I gained from the seal was enough to make a proficient level six seal expert. The final note in the seal said that the entire knowledge wasn't there as ojisan wanted the heir to become a capable seal master on his own. This seal was just so that the person could have some basic understanding of fūinjutsu."

"But," Kakashi spoke, his eyebrows furrowed, "throughout the fight you never used fūinjutsu."

Naruto gave a smile, making Kakashi shiver at the gleeful expression on the newly promoted Tokubetsu Jōnin, "The reason you didn't see any seals was because I didn't want it to be seen. Every time that you parried or blocked my attack, every time when your body came in contact with my hands, I placed a seal on your body."

A befuddled Kakashi started combing through his body in search for said seals, only to be stopped short as Naruto continued speaking.

"And no matter how much you try, you won't be able to find a single one of them. Another specialty of mine, I must say. By the end of the spar, you were riddled with at least a dozen high quality explosive seals, one paralysis seal, one gravity seal and one resistance seal. When I said I could have finished the spar with one move I meant it, sensei. I never told you that I had backup plans created throughout the entire spar. Besides even your book has a hidden explosive seal on it. Think of it as kind of security. The next time you are late to a team meeting or a mission, I will detonate it. And no matter how far you are from me, it will still detonate."

The entire room stood stunned, never expecting the blond to have planned so ahead throughout the spar. A couple of moves was expected, but that much ingenuity along with the free use of seals, making them invisible. Meanwhile, Kakashi was horrified at the last fact. As an avid reader, he couldn't not read the book. But the fact that it was ridden with a high quality explosive seal meant he would have to lose his tardiness. Truly, Kakashi was between a rock and a hard place.

"In the end of the spar with Kakashi-senpai," Neko broke the silence, "we saw you using a sword that wasn't Kubikiribōchō." And although it was a statement, Naruto could see the question hidden in it.

In a poof of smoke, the similar kodachi, this time in a black sheath with gold and silver inlays, was presented to everyone else. Naruto gave it a few experimental swings, before placing the sword by his side, which stuck there as though glued to it. "This is Sen'nenki no Ken, found it in the catacombs as well. I hadn't thought about learning kenjutsu at that point but the blade was so badass I decided to learn kenjutsu."

"How is the blade 'bad-ass' as you most succinctly put it?" Neko asked, finding the blade interesting.

"Sorry, Neko-chan," Naruto spoke apologetically, "Can't show it right now. I only use it fully in a battle and that too in a life or death situation. I used it against Kakashi-sensei because I knew Akeginu-chan was pissed off because I was using Kubikiri. Besides, I find this sword much more comfortable than that."

"Um Naruto," Kakashi spoke next some amount of trepidation in his voice, "what was the move that you used at last, before your clones surrounded me?"

"Oh that." The blond spoke as though he had just realized something. Meanwhile, Jiraiya facepalmed at his idiot genius. "It was just the standard Shunshin."

"But how?" Kakashi asked, stumped that his ex-student could use the simple D-Rank Jutsu with such efficiency.

The only person that he could remember use the same technique to in such an efficient manner was Shisui Uchiha, who had earned the moniker of _Shunshin no Shisui._ Contrary to popular belief, the technique was not a teleportation technique but was simply used to move at untraceable speed, making anyone think that the person had teleported. Where in actuality, the person simply used his/her chakra to temporarily vitalize the body and move at extreme speeds, the amount of chakra influenced by the distance and elevation.

However, this technique had its own shortcomings. First, it was highly chakra strenuous over an extended period of time. Secondly, should a person hold a dōjutsu like the Sharingan or the Byakugan, he/she could sense the chakra flow to anticipate the destination of the technique, diminishing its efficacy in the frontline.

But what he had felt, the way Naruto and his clones had appeared right before him, he had been unable to anticipate that. He had first thought that the Tokubetsu Jōnin had used his father's infamous technique, Hiraishin, and wouldn't that have been a clincher. Still, he was unable to comprehend how the young man had able to use it in that particular manner.

"You thought that he used Hiraishin, didn't you?" Jiraiya inquired, a patent smirk on his face.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Kakashi inquired, curious as to how the Sannin had read him like a book. It was true he was surprised, but he was sure most of them had thought that it was due to the use of Shunshin.

"Because that is what I thought when the gaki used it against me," Jiraiya replied, much to the surprise of everyone. "The way his signature almost vanishes before reappearing the next moment will make anyone think that it was a teleportation instead of simple high speed movement."

"But that still doesn't change the fact that my Sharingan should have seen where he was going to land," Kakashi countered, still befuddled at that tidbit.

"Because the Sharingan can see chakra flow?" Naruto conjectured, getting an affirmation from the seasoned Jōnin. "They you would have not been able to guess my trajectory. You do remember that the mist that I brought forth wasn't a simple one?" Kakashi's one visible eyebrow shot up into his slanted headband as the implication of the simple statement came upon him, an action that made Naruto smile widely in satisfaction at having one-upped his previous sensei.

"Because the mist was laced with your chakra," Tsunade was the one to speak this time, having understood what the brat had done and was now voicing her thoughts. "Kakashi's Sharingan could not have seen where your chakra was flowing, making you nearly invisible in the mist."

"Yup," Naruto nodded in avowal. "Akeginu-chan and Ero-sennin have helped me a lot in my stealth skills. We already know about four members of Akatsuki and this technique will help with two of them, specifically Itachi and that Jashinist, Hidan. Although seeing that Itachi's partner is Kisame, I don't know how effective it can be. Using it against Kisame will be senseless, seeing that he is perhaps the strongest amongst the Kiri Swordsmen."

A scoff from Akeginu caught the others' attention, while Naruto groaned while mumbling, "Here we go again."

"You wanted to say something Akeginu-san?" Tsunade inquired of the kunoichi.

"Nothing Hokage-sama," Akeginu began, "it's just that you blow these Seven Swordsmen way out of proportion. You think that they are good because they are good swordsmen. For me or anyone who is skilled in the art of the sword, they are nothing but an affront in the name of kenjutsu. I haven't seen any of them in action, so I can't talk about their 'skills' but what I have heard about the swords, and I can barely call a few of them swords, is that it is the swords themselves that makes them more dangerous. Take away their sword and you are fighting someone who is just a good samurai using chakra techniques. This Kisame, whom Naruto-kun and the pervert are talking about, apparently uses his sentient sword to drain chakra from his opponents and thus neutralizes any of their technique. So tell me what will happen if someone fights him using techniques that aren't based on chakra usage?"

General astonishment filled the room as the Kage, ANBU captain and former ANBU captain understood what Akeginu was implying. It was as if Akeginu was tailor-made to fight Kisame. Her non-reliance on chakra made the use of Samehada redundant as it wouldn't be able to siphon any chakra, leveling the playing fields a bit.

"We only have general information about Kisame, Akeginu-chan," Naruto began, breaking everyone's line of thought. "Apart from him using Samehada, he is also known to have massive chakra reserves, meaning he can throw around ninjutsu with reckless abandon and if you want to fight him, then we have to get you prepared for that."

"Hold it right there," Tsunade interjected with a growl. "What in the name of Kami are you both talking about? Facing Kisame? Are the two of you out of your mind?"

Both of them tilted their heads and looked at the fuming Kage as though she was stupid.

"Baa-chan," Naruto was the first to speak, "we know that Akatsuki are coming and nothing is going to change that. What we can do is prepare ourselves. Besides, there is no way in hell that I will simply hide out and let others jeopardize their lives to protect me. Isn't this what the trip was for? To become strong enough that I can fight these monsters? As for fighting Kisame, Akeginu-chan wanted to do that and show others that the Kiri swordsmen are nothing compared to a true practitioner of kenjutsu. And I am not going to stop her if that is what she wants. In fact, I will be there when she beats the tar out of the fish bastard."

Tsunade grumbled. She really did not want to risk the life of the one person whom she considered a family, and who was in fact his family. If she had her way, the blond bastard would be hidden deep within a bunker or on some isolated island until the situation with Akatsuki was handled. But she knew that he wouldn't let them do it, no matter how much she tried.

"All right," she groused, rubbing her temples in vexation. "What else happened on the trip?"

"I just gave him a letter Minato had prepared as soon as he found out that Kushina was pregnant," Jiraiya spoke, "I didn't know what was in the letter, truth be told. The brat tried to show me what was written, but all I could see was barely legible scribbles. When we found similar things in Uzu, we came to the conclusion that Minato used seals taught to him by Kushina to make it in such a way that only someone of Uzumaki descent could read it. Truly an ingenious work, I must say."

"The letter contained mostly some personal stuff, although there was one thing that stood out," Naruto added. "There was one of his Hiraishin kunais with the shiki. The letter stated that was how dad re-created Hiraishin, after he saw the shiki that the Nidaime used, and that was what he wanted me to do. He said how the he had started the re-creation of the jutsu from scratch and that was how he wanted me to proceed, should I ever want to re-create it. And let me tell you, the entire process is so damn boring. I had to study so much, my clones started rebelling. The clones I created to study would dispel themselves almost immediately just to save themselves from the boredom. I had to study so much myself and even now I am not even close to completing it."

The surprises seem to keep coming, as the ninja in the room understood what the blond was saying. Even now, a Hiraishin Kunai could make even most veteran Iwa-Jōnin shake their boots in fear. The technique was that feared. Adding to the fact, the extent to which Naruto had mastered Shunshin, should he re-create Hiraishin he could easily take the mantle of the fastest shinobi in the Elemental Nations, making him dangerous even to an organization filled with S-Rank shinobi.

"His clones really are a work of nature, Hime," The astonished environment was eventually broken by Jiraiya, who had started to feel way too serious in the room. "You just have to see them. I almost died laughing a couple of times when they started fighting among themselves about who would get to eat the ramen." Jiraiya chortled as unbidden memories came to his mind.

"Yeah yeah, laugh all you want pervert." Naruto grumbled, his clones apparently being a sore topic for him. "I only wish your clones would be insubordinate so you can feel how I feel."

Tsunade sighed, the shocked feeling in the room having dissipated with the bickering between the teacher and student. "Now, is there anything else that you two want? I need to get back to this damned paperwork. And once Shizune comes back, I can be damn sure I won't get to have another drink."

Naruto moved closer to Tsunade, whispering something in her ear. That something was what, nobody could hear but the look of delight on her face made everyone take a step back in trepidation. She suddenly jumped up from her chair, hugging the young man with all her might, and if the cracking of his ribs being heard throughout the room was any evidence, the might was somewhat too much for the blond.

"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi decided to intervene, "I think you are choking him." And indeed, the blond seemed to have stopped breathing, his face blue due to the lack of air. Tsunade immediately let go of the blond making him take huge gulps of sweet air.

Calming down, all the while taking several steps away from the delighted Hokage, Naruto spoke, "Baa-chan, please don't try to kill me next time, would you? Now I'm going to take up residence in the Uzumaki Clan home. You want to find me, I'll either be there or the Forbidden Forest. I'm going to use that as my new Training Ground." Seeing their rather incredulous looks, he shrugged, "What? It is a good training ground. I can go all out without any restraints. See you around, everyone. Come meet me whenever you want to spar, Neko-chan. I'm sure you guys know how to find me. If not, then I think it will be a good exercise for you all. The ANBU really are going complacent in this village, 'ya know."

Not waiting for a response Naruto walked over to the open window and jumped out, the blond Hokage cursing the damn brat for not using the door like a proper shinobi. Kakashi soon followed afterwards, he had a book to read after all, while Neko hid herself in the office, once again going back to her job as the bodyguard, though she did want to have a few words with the rest of the ANBU if a Tokubetsu Jōnin could fool them for so long.

Tsunade turned towards Akeginu, wanting to know where she would be staying, only to find the space she was standing completely vacant, as though she wasn't standing there a second ago. She looked towards Jiraiya with raised eyebrows almost demanding an explanation.

Jiraiya merely shrugged having grown used to this, before a lecherous grin was back on his face, "Well Hime, now that I've brought back the gaki, I'll be heading out. Now that three years are almost up, the Akatsuki should start making their moves and we need whatever information on them. Now, what do you say about sending me a goodbye hug, though I would love if you gave where I'm on top and you-"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto's attention was drawn upwards as a white blur flew from the direction of the Hokage Tower. Shaking his head, Naruto continued on his way, "I knew it was a good idea to leave that window open, ero-sennin is seriously a glutton for punishment, I swear."

As he moved towards his favorite shop, only one thought ran through his mind, 'It sure is good to be back.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

 **CHAPTER-3**

Reaching his destination, Naruto's stomach growled in anticipation as he threw aside the curtain keeping him from the stools of the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Taking his seat he smirked to himself, "Hey! I'm back and I've been deprived for far too long!"

Ayame who was running the counter at the moment looked flabbergasted, "Naruto-kun, you were here just a couple hours ago!"

"That's it, neechan." Naruto pointed out, "that was more than two hours ago. Now I'm hungry again. And I need to make up for the three years of ramen deprivation."

"You didn't eat ramen for three years?" Ayame was shocked, the guy who ate ramen at least two times a day didn't eat at all for three years? Well, that explained the ramen-eating frenzy he had shown earlier. She had been surprised, and somewhat disappointed when the blond hadn't spoken to her when he had come with his companions. Speaking of said companions-"And where are the ladies that you were accompanying this morning. You didn't leave them alone, did you?" she asked, an all too sweet smile on her face that promised pain if he gave the wrong answer.

"Pfft," Naruto waved her off not at all affected by her smile. He had been with Akeginu for close to two years, and no matter what the ramen waitress did she couldn't compare to the black haired kunoichi. "As if the pervert could stop me from eating the food of the gods. Though he did restrict ramen to just twice a week. Even then it wasn't your ramen neechan." He looked at her straight in the eyes, tears flowing from his eyes like a waterfall, "Do you know how much I missed your ramen? No matter how much I travelled, no matter where I went, no ramen I found as good as yours. In fact I'd marry you if Teuchi-ojisan gave me the recipe for the ramen. Fū-chan is off to meet some people with Shizune-neechan. As for Akeginu-chan, I guess she will be here in a few minutes."

Satisfied with his answer, Ayame made a hurting expression as a few tears made way to her eyes, "You mean you'd marry just for the ramen recipe?"

Naruto, despite knowing that the look being fake, couldn't help but sigh. He really was a sucker for such acts. "Ayame-neechan, you don't need to bring out the fake hurt look, ya know. If I had to marry you I'd do so because I found you beautiful, not because I wanted the recipe. The recipe itself would be just a bonus."

The reddish hue that came across the waitress' face made him chuckle. However, it seemed Ayame wasn't going down without a fight, "And what about that teammate of yours? Sakura, wasn't that her name?"

Naruto shrugged, "She said she loved Sasuke, though I still don't understand how a twelve year old can say she loves someone. While it would seem hypocritical since I asked her out a lot, it was mostly because I wanted her to show me the at least some of the affection that she showed to the bastard. I always thought that asking a girl on a date was a way to get to know them better and be their friends. I never realized that it was an intimate matter." And it was true. Having grown and orphan, a jinchūriki orphan, he had negligible interactions with children his age and by the time he had joined the academy he did not know how to approach someone to become their friends.

Being the think-headed kid he was, he bull rushed into befriending the first person he met, who just so happened to be one Sakura Haruno. She had obviously eschewed him, and he being the stubborn kid he was, something he later learned that he had inherited from his mother, had decided that he would befriend her. And while such method had worked on Gaara, who had it worse than him, it was bound to be a failure with a normal girl like Sakura. Even his friendship with Ayame had more familial basis than pure friendship.

"I never said I loved her anyways," he continued. "And after treating her so nicely when we were on the same team, the only thing I got in reply was being pummeled to the ground. Even today, she tried to hit me just because I was flirting with Neko-chan, like I was doing something vile. Is it wrong for a guy to flirt with a woman? You know, throughout my travels, Konoha is the only place where someone tried to pummel me for this. Besides, I only flirt with girls whom I know or who show some interest in me. You tell me what would you do if I tell you that you look extremely delectable in that waitress outfit?"

The reddish hue on the waitress' face escalated further several shades at the innocent way that the blond had asked the question. She was saved from any further embarrassment as another person entered the ramen stand, and the young waitress couldn't be more relieved to find the black haired kunoichi, who if the hitae-ate was any evidence was now a kunoichi.

"Naruto," she spoke in a manner that Ayame wished she could use. She saw Naruto visibly freeze at that voice and couldn't help but chuckle at the way the kunoichi had apparently had the young ninja trained.

"What have I said to you regarding eating too much ramen? And were you really flirting with Ayame-san?" Akeginu continued, her voice getting colder by the second.

"Scary," Naruto muttered before straightening himself and turned towards Akeginu who had taken the empty seat beside him, a pout on his face. "But…but its Ichiraku," he whined piteously. "I haven't had their succulence for so long."

"You had thirty five bowls just this morning," she pointed out imperially, before her countenance turned mischievous. "And I saw how you didn't answer the question about you flirting with Ayame-san."

"You know I call 'em as I see them," he shrugged as if he was simply stating a fact. "If I say that I find Ayame-chan stunning, you know that I am not simply flirting, but us in fact the truth."

A now red-faced Ayame could do nothing but gape at the sincerity in the blond words. She truly had no idea how to respond to that. Fortunately for her, she didn't have to as another person joined in on the conversation.

"Who is the bastard flirting with my daughter?" The unyielding voice of Teuchi came from the back, he himself following a couple of moments later. The angry visage turned into a grin as he realized it was Naruto making all the racket. His grin turned wider when he saw the beautiful woman sitting beside him, "Well look who came back from the dead. Where have you been Naruto? We've been wondering where our primary patron was. And who is this pretty lady that has decided to accompany a ruffian like you?"

As Naruto gawked at the insult, Akeginu smiled at the ramen chef. "My name is Akeginu," she gave a small bow from her seated position. "It's nice to finally meet you Ichiraku-san. Naruto-kun has told me a lot about you."

"My, my," Teuchi chortled, "it is nice to see that the brat is hanging out with someone who has decent manners. I just hope he learns even a trickle of decency from you. And call me Teuchi, any friend of Naruto is welcome to this stand."

"I try my best Teuchi-san," Akeginu gave a sigh of annoyance, one that everyone knew was fake. "But you know how Naruto-kun is. He just doesn't want to learn anything that I try to teach him."

"Oi," Naruto interrupted, having had enough of the two-fold attack from Akeginu and Teuchi. He could see Ayame barely holding on to the ledge of the ramen stand trying to control her laughter. "Stop talking like I'm not here, dattebayo." He blinked before cursing inaudibly at his verbal tic. As he looked at each person present in the stand he grumbled incoherently when he saw each of them smiling at his predicament.

"Jokes aside," Teuchi began after he got his laughter under control. "It really is good to see you Naruto. You will not believe how agitated Ayame and I were when you did not come to eat here one week straight. She almost went ballistic when Hokage-sama did not tell where you had gone."

Ayame blushed in embarrassment, her eyes glued to the floor. That had not been one of her better decisions. She had later realized that had the Hokage wanted, she would not have left the room and instead would be a smear on the wall.

Naruto smiled at his elder sister figure, leading to further reddening of her cheeks. Ayame gave her father a death glare, though the effect was significantly condensed courtesy of her enflamed cheeks, something which she noticed as Teuchi's snickers amplified. So she did the only thing that she thought was sagacious. She huffed and retreated back into the kitchen.

Teuchi laughed as he saw his daughter glare at him from the kitchen. You aren't a true parent if you don't embarrass your children. He turned towards Naruto, who was himself looking towards the fuming waitress in amusement. "You aren't thinking about doing something unscrupulous with my daughter, are you Naruto?" he inquired, his parent mode activating in defense of his daughter.

Gaining another groan from said daughter.

Although there was a subtle threat, Naruto simply waved him off. "Don't worry ojisan, its nothing." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Anyways, as to your earlier inquiry I was away for a while. Training purposes. And now that I'm back I Got promoted to Tokubetsu Jōnin and will most probably be promoted to Jōnin in the next few months. I hope so. As for Akeginu-chan, she is a chūnin for the village now. Now give me some ramen. Your primary patron is waiting."

Teuchi nodded and patted him on the shoulder, "Congratulation on the promotion kid. Knew you'd be a good ninja." Taking out a notepad and pen, he continued, "So what will you have?"

Naruto thought on it for a moment, "Give me seven bowls of Miso back to back, five chicken, and what the hell, two vegetable ramen. Variety right?"

Teuchi laughed to himself, "Yeah, variety… right. It'll be right out Naruto." He then turned towards Akeginu, "And what can I get for you?"

"I'm fine Teuchi-san," Akeginu replied graciously. "Not all of us are never ending pits that can gorge down anything thrown at them." All the while her attention didn't waver from Naruto, who in a show of immense maturity stuck his tongue out at her. Not that it gained any kind of response from the seasoned kunoichi.

"It's all right," Teuchi smiled, seeing their small interaction. "I haven't seen anyone who can eat ramen with the gusto that the brat shows. I'll be right up with your order brat."

As soon as Teuchi went back to prepare the meal for the blond shinobi, Ayame came back out, crossed the counter and gave Naruto a back crushing hug. Despite being just a civilian the girl sure packed a lot of strength. "Congratulations Naruto-kun. But didn't you say the test was about you becoming Jōnin?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck with his one free hand, all the while using the other to hold on to Ayame as he held enjoyed the hug from his sister-like figure, "Yeah. Forgot one thing ero-sennin told me that was required for becoming one. While on the basis of skill I may be a Jōnin, I'll have to be capable of leading a team, and be comfortable of working with any team and that can only happen when I gain some experience in a team."

"Any idea who your team members may be?" Ayame asked, as she made her way back behind the counter and Naruto took his seat.

Naruto shrugged, "Don't know. Usually most teams formed are temporary, with members jumping from one team to another based on the mission. So who knows?"

Ayame seemed content with the answer as she went back to cleaning pots, occasionally chatting with the residential blond in between. Naruto tried to hide it, but the subtle tapping of the underside of the counter would sometimes make let it be known that he was actually anticipating his meal. Before he ended up getting his food he ended up getting a tap on the shoulder from a familiar face.

Turning to face the person who had tried getting his attention, Naruto came face to face with a sorrowful Sakura, "Naruto, I-I would like to apologize-"

Naruto raised a hand to stop her mid-speech, while he patted the empty stool beside him. Taking it as an invitation to sit down, Sakura took the seat as Naruto turned to face her, "From the look on your face, it seems Shizune neechan told you everything about life of ninjas like us?" Getting a solemn shake in return, he sighed, "Sakura, I don't want your pity. In fact I don't want anybody's pity. Everything I've done ever since I became a genin, I did it gain people's attention and respect. My proclamation of becoming Hokage was only because I wanted people to look at me like they looked at Sandaime-jiji."

Naruto let a ghost of a smile come to his features as Teuchi brought Naruto his first bowl. The boy dug in after a small utterance of 'Itadakimasu'. Sakura ordered a small bowl of chicken ramen, "Travelling with ero-sennin and the people I met made me realize that I don't need recognition from people that hated me despite everything I've done for the village. I realized that I didn't want their respect by wanting to be the Hokage, I wanted their adoration."

"Now, I don't give a fuck what the majority of those people think about me. If they hate me, fine, go ahead and hate me, but I want their respect in the purest form, not any kind of love from them. They can sneer at me and say things behind my back all they would like, but when I'm dead they better recognize the fact that I was the best damn ninja that they ever had the pleasure of seeing in person. Now, most of the ninja forces treat me with respect after what I've done and I'm more than happy with it. Due to Konohamaru, most of the younger generation also looks up to me. What more do I need?"

"As long as my name is emblazoned in the history books and a 97 year old Iruka-sensei is still yelling at a classroom full of brats to shut the hell up so they can study Naruto Uzumaki and why exactly he was so important to the village I'll be fine. I want the kids of my generation to sit down with their kids and tell stories of the time that Naruto Uzumaki saved their asses."

Sakura sat there, stunned at the monologue by her teammate, still unable to fathom that this was the immature Naruto that had left the village nearly three years ago. She quickly recomposed herself, quickly deciding not to get surprised any more, her teammate truly had a propensity of surprising everyone. "Nevertheless, I think I need to apologize Naruto. Not for that matter, but for trying to hit you. While I still don't like the fact that you were flirting with someone, an ANBU nonetheless, I think that I was being unfair to you."

Naruto paused from his utter decimation of the hapless bowl of ramen to turn towards Sakura, a look of absolute shock marring his face. He couldn't comprehend Sakura apologizing for trying to hit him. And truly he could see how she was forcing herself to say the words, "Sakura, I can tell you are forcing yourself to apologize for trying to hit me, and if there is one thing that I don't like, it's someone lying to my face. If you don't like my flirting, tell me that, not that it will change anything."

And just like that, any kind of respect that the pinkette had for the blond pummeled. "What do you mean by that Naruto?" She asked, nearly gritting her teeth. The blond ninja while not following her anymore, still seemed to find new ways to infuriate her.

"That no matter what you try, you won't stop me from flirting." He shrugged, before shoveling the latest bowl of ramen. "You remember who my senseis were? One of them reads porn in public while the other one is the author of said porn and would go to every hot spring and face the wrath of women for his 'research'. The way I turned out, you should be happy that I didn't start asking you something perverse the moment I met you." His eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind, "Wait a second…you're not angry that I flirted with Neko-chan. You're angry that I didn't do it with you."

Ignoring her twitching eyebrows, he continued, "Why didn't you say so, Sakura-chan? If you wanted I'd be happy to do that to you." The last part was spoken with a lecherous grin and wiggling eyebrows as he closed the distance between the two of them, getting in her personal space. There was silence for a few moments, before the blond shinobi ducked, dodging a punch to his face. He quickly exited the stand, not wanting any harm to befall on it. He dodged another swing, "GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD. TAKE YOUR HIT LIKE A MAN!"

Naruto grinned, before jumping on top of buildings, "NO WAY! I ALREADY TOLD BAA-CHAN I AIN'T TAKING A HIT LIKE ERO-SENNIN. BESIDES I KNOW YOU WERE THINKING ABOUT IT SAKURA!"

"I'LL KILL YOU NARUTO! YOU CANNNOT RUN FOREVER!"

"YOU WON'T CATCH ME ALIVE SAKURA!"

XXXXXXXXX

(Two Hours Later)

"Damn, Sakura surely has improved in the three years." Naruto spoke, as he retraced his steps back towards Ichiraku, had to pay the bill, didn't he? "Didn't know her stamina increased so much. Baa-chan must have put her through the ringer." After letting the pinkette chase him for the next two hours, the blond had eventually used his Shunshin to get away once he saw that she was starting to get tired. Oh he knew that he'd pay for it the next time they'd meet, but decided to simply wing it.

As he moved towards his destination, he heard a few recognizable voices, bringing a smile to his face. He turned round the corner to find his favorite group of kids.

"Oh come on, Ebisu sensei!" Konohamaru whined, "Why can't we go on higher ranked missions? These chores are so boring. And if I have to catch the damn cat again, I'm sure I'll kill it."

Ebisu, the sensei to the newly formed genin Konohamaru Squad, simply shook his head, "I am afraid Konohamaru, until you master the basics and are deemed adequate by me, I cannot, in good conscience, allow you three to take any higher missions."

"Uh!" the genin groaned, "if I only do these silly chores then how am I supposed to defeat Naruto-Oyabun? He must have become a powerhouse after his training. I can't wait to see him when he returns."

Naruto revealed himself to the group, by sneaking up from behind them, "Hey there everyone." He spoke out loud, causing the group to jump in surprise while a girlish shriek escaped Ebisu's mouth. He had to do that once again and more importantly somehow save it as blackmail material. It still felt good torturing the poor 'Elite Jōnin'.

The group quickly recomposed themselves, while Ebisu tried to somehow save his reputation by trying to act his usual self. "BOSS!" the three genin shouted in unison, while Konohamaru seemed to have stars in his eyes at seeing his self-proclaimed rival. "When did you arrive? It's really good to see you."

"Reached the village just this morning brat." He spoke nonchalantly. Hey, while he was proud of his pranks, he didn't want it advertised that he was the one to do them. Didn't want the entire ANBU forces after him. "What about you guys? When did you all receive your headband?"

Moegi, the female member of the team with a permanent blush on her face spoke, "Just a couple of months ago boss. Although, the D-Ranks are something that we can do without."

Naruto placed his hand on her head, ruffling her hair. She swatted it away with a scowl on her face, "Don't worry Moegi, it's only for some time. Complete the requisite amount of D's and you'll be able to take a light C-Rank soon." He turned towards the sensei, "Hello there Ebisu, how are you doing? Like taking care of a group of brats?"

Ignoring the shout of indignation from said brats, Ebisu replied, "I'm fine Uzumaki-san. As for teaching the 'brats' as you say, I have always found teaching better than any other kind of missions. By the way, congratulations on your defeat of Kakashi-senpai and your promotion. It seems your training trip with Jiraiya-sama was fruitful."

The three genin had a dumbfounded look on their face, while Naruto scratched the back of his neck. News like that surely got around fast didn't it? Although he didn't think it would travel this fast. One of the ANBU must have talked. Konohamaru was the first to break the silence, "You defeated one of the best ninja in the village boss? And got promoted?"

"It was nothing Konohamaru," Naruto waved him off, "Kakashi was holding back" he was too as a matter of fact, but didn't find it prudent to spread, "didn't want to cause any damage to the village, you know. It was just a spar. And the spar was the reason I got promoted."

"So cool!" Konohamaru exclaimed, "It means you can teach us now?"

"Sure," Naruto shrugged, before turning towards Ebisu, "I hope you don't mind. Ero-sennin taught me a lot of things and I think I could at least get them started in a few of them."

"Of course not Uzumaki-san. I think being taught even something by the student of Jiraiya-sama will be a great experience for my students." Ebisu replied, while Naruto noticed how the Jōnin did not have the usual brusque nature that he previously showed the blond. In fact, he could see some respect directed towards himself.

"You don't need to be so formal with me Ebisu," Naruto spoke, "I am still the brat who used his Hāremu no Jutsu to knock you out. Call me Naruto. There is no need to use any honorific. I don't use them unless a necessity."

Ignoring his sniggering students, having been reminded of his defeat by a genin, Ebisu replied with a twitching eyebrow, "All right, Naruto-san. So, when can I expect you to take the kids off my hands?"

"Not sure," Naruto shrugged, "I just returned and it will most be a few more days before I start taking missions. I'll inform you when I'm free. Now, you guys go on with your training and missions. I'll see you around."

"See you around boss." The three genin replied, while Ebisu nodded towards the blond.

Waving the chibi brigade goodbye, he went back to the ramen stand, profusely apologizing to Teuchi and Ayame for leaving without paying, also asking if they knew where Akeginu had gone. That had gotten him another reprimand from his sister figure as to how he could let someone new to the village alone and how it was negligent of him. And while Naruto knew that Akeginu could handle herself, he knew that he had been carried away in teasing Sakura.

After paying them back, the blond moved towards his ancestral home, having stayed there for the entire week during his pranking period. He knew that she would somehow find him and that there was nothing he could do. Situated remotely towards the exterior of the village, he travelled at a somewhat slow pace, enjoying the atmosphere.

Traveling for about half an hour, the blond finally reached his destination, although he wasn't surprised to find his traveling partner standing there looking as regal as she could. Although the slight tapping of her feet informed him that she had been waiting there for a while.

"Sorry," he began, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "It took some time to get Sakura off of me."

"It seems that we will have to retrain in eluding enemy ninja," she spoke, not caring how pale Naruto's face had gone at that, "if you were unable to get away from a chūnin."

"Bu-but I was playing with her all the time," he stammered out, trying to find a way out from that particular training.

"Doesn't matter," she stated, cutting off any further excuses. "You should have evaded her within half an hour. She was angry and you should have used it for your benefit. You were unable to do that and that means that your skills were lacking. That is something that I will not tolerate." Seeing that he was still going to argue, she glared at him effectively shutting him up. She pushed the guard of her kodachi extracting just an inch of the sword from it scabbard and ran her thumb along the edge, gaining a small cut on it and turned towards Naruto, an expectant look on her face.

Naruto sighed, knowing that there was going to be no reprieve from his teacher, and turned towards the gate. The compound gate, a gate especially made by Hashirama Senju for his then fiancé Mito Uzumaki, was an unassuming wooden gate emblazoned with the Uzumaki swirl in its center. He placed his hand on the gate and channeled some chakra through the swirl all the while going through numerous hand seals, finishing with a half ram seal. Numerous squiggles of kanji appeared on the gate in the shape of the swirl, stopping just before the hand that was placed on the gate. Naruto removed his hand from the gate and turned towards Akeginu, who by now had blood on all of her fingers. Getting the go ahead, the former Iga-kunoichi placed her hands on the empty center of the Uzumaki swirl. Not a second later, the kanji glowed before disappearing.

As Akeginu stepped back, Naruto moved took her place and channeled some chakra to the swirl. Numerous squiggles of kanji appeared for a moment, before vanishing, immediately followed by the opening of the gates in a flourish. The entire compound having been cleaned spotless by his army of clones.

He entered the moderate sized traditional wooden house, followed closely behind by Akeginu, making his way towards the bedroom. The hallways were made of similar wooden flooring as was the kitchen, while the common areas like the living room consisted of tatami flooring. Not something he personally preferred, as he hated sitting in seiza. Still, it was a good compound, and was in a good condition, mostly due to the stasis and reinforcement seals placed.

Reaching the door to a room, he turned towards Akeginu.

"This is my room," he began. "You can take the one beside this one and tomorrow we can tell Fu-chan to take the one at the end. The bathroom is at the end of the corridor and there is a hot spring behind the compound."

"And what about your pervert teacher?" Akeginu asked, knowing about the tendencies of said person. And while she would not hesitate in suing her looks for seduction missions, when it came to the matter of respite, she did not want it ending primarily because of the works of a self-proclaimed super pervert.

"Don't worry about it," he waved her off. "There are seals that prevent any kind of snooping, no matter what technique he uses." As a matter of fact, he was sure that the seals could prevent the use of even the Tōmegane no Jutsu, one of the best tracking tools should one be familiar with someone's chakra.

Giving a nod of approval, Akeginu went towards the bathroom.

Naruto himself entered his room, one that once used to be occupied by his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, as evidenced by the numerous photos of her ninja and civilian life, something he cherished more than the house itself. He took off his shirt, his upper body revealing a multitude of scars, most flagrant of them being two fist sized ones, where he had been pierced by Sasuke's Chidori. Taking a quick bath, he went back to his room and sat down, cross-legged, and started to regulate his breath, while reaching deep within his psych.

Not five seconds later, the blond opened his eyes as he was greeted by a familiar sight. Having entered his mindscape Konoha, Naruto made his way towards the Hokage Monument, more specifically the forest area above it. Reaching there, he found a horse sized orange fox, with front paws shaped in the form of a human hand and rabbit ears, nine tails spread out behind it, and finally finishing the ensemble was a collar around its neck with the kanji for 'seal' written on it.

"Oi, Kyūbi!" Naruto shouted, a tick mark on his face, "I know you felt me enter the mindscape. Get the fuck up, you lazy fox. I know you are awake."

Kyūbi opened one eye, before closing it back. **"Shut the fuck up, kit."** The Bijū grumbled, before yawning, as though having just woken up from a deep slumber. **"What do you want? I was having such a brilliant dream."**

"Dream later Kyūbi, I wanted to ask you a few things." Naruto spoke, before seating himself beside the embodiment of mass destruction, somehow resisting the temptation to scratch the fox.

" **Whatever you want to ask, do it quickly. I have other things to do."**

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, not that such an action was going to affect the Bijū. "What were you going to do here? The only thing I ever see you do here is sleep and the occasional destruction of Konoha that I have chanced upon."

" **That is what you think I'd do brat."** Kyūbi scoffed, swishing its tails **, "No matter how much I like destroying your despicable village, eventually I too get bored after such hapless destruction."**

Naruto shook his head, knowing that getting a straight answer from the Bijū regarding a few matters was next to impossible. "Okay, I know you saw the entire spar with Kakashi-sensei. What did you think of it?"

" **I have only one thought...you sucked."** Not giving any attention to the face-faulting shinobi, the fox continued, **"You underestimated the scarecrow, your situational awareness was shoddy, I had to tell you about the underground attack. Most of all, instead of fighting, you were talking to him, instead of fighting him and defeating him as quickly as possible, you were interacting. If it were a real battle, he would have defeated you due to your lack of attention."**

Picking himself up, Naruto sighed, "I know I made a huge number of mistakes. But the thing is I treated it as a simple showcase of my abilities. Still doesn't change the fact that I made mistakes." He took a deep breath, before turning towards the fox, "Anything you needed while I'm here? Any more freedom?"

Kyūbi gave the blond a once over, before taking a deep breath, **"Nothing else kit. Just try to use the Mode quickly. Want to feel the bloodlust. And don't think that just because we are on a talking basis that I will not devour you when we fight. I am just waiting for the day you remove this blasted seal so that we can have our fight and I can tear you apart. And don't forget your promise."**

"Can't wait to fight you too, you bastard fox." Naruto smirked, a smirk that was copied by the Bijū itself. Not a few moments later, the blond shinobi faded away, leaving the fox alone. The fox stood up, made his way towards the Monument overlooking Konoha slowly increasing in size until it was as tall as the Monument itself, a grin appearing on its face as the shinobi force of Konoha stood in front of it. Now, only two things could make his day.

"Kyūbi! I won't let you cause any harm to Konoha." The projection of the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze shouted passionately as it stood atop the mental Hokage Tower, something that was copied by the shinobi forces.

On the other side, a distortion in the space occurred, followed by a gleeful voice, as a man in an orange spiral mask appeared from the distortion, "Yes, my pet. Obey my command and destroy these pesky Konoha-nin."

As Kyūbi reared its maw, ready to destroy the ninja and the masked man alike, a voice rang throughout the mindscape, "And I never break my promises, Kyūbi. Remember that."

Naruto, back from his mindscape, was not at all surprised that it was nearing sundown. He got to his feet as the proximity seal on the gate alerted him of someone's arrival. Not bothering to wear a shirt, Naruto reached the gate, clad in just his shinobi pants, his sensory abilities easily recognizing the person as ANBU Neko. Opening the gate, he was therefore not surprised to see that it was indeed Neko, but this time sans her ANBU mask.

Knowing the protocol, he smiled and motioned for her to enter, "Hey there Yūgao-chan. Baa-chan let you go early today? By the way, channel some chakra on the seal, would you?" Seeing her questioning gaze, Naruto elaborated, "Have to get you registered to the seals so that you can enter."

The kenjutsu user, not showing any discomfort at his lack of clothing, channeled some of her chakra to the seal that was now visible on the gate. The seal, once again glowed before vanishing. Getting the go ahead from the blond Tokubetsu Jōnin, Yūgao entered the house and finding the house in a respectable condition gave an approving nod. "You shouldn't talk about Hokage-sama like that Naruto-kun. She is the leader of the village."

The blond waved her off, "I call them as I see them, Yūgao-chan. Ero-sennin is a pervert so I call him so. You have seen how he calls himself a super-pervert, so I don't think it is wrong to call him so. Similarly, Tsunade-baachan is an old lady is who uses a special genjutsu. Besides, she is technically my baa-chan from my mother's side, so she can't do anything in that instance."

Sensing that his escort wasn't moving, he turned around to see a shocked Yūgao, with her beautiful face, in his opinion, turning pale. "Ho-How do you know?" she gasped.

A look of remembrance came across the blond's face, "Oh! You weren't there when I told baa-chan, were you?" Not waiting for a reply, he continued, "Yeah, ero-kyofu told me about them. Besides, I saw his face nearly every day and couldn't make the connection. After all who has hair structure like mine in the entire village? It's like I'm his carbon copy, except for the face structure that is."

"Ero-kyofu?" Yūgao asked, her eyebrow twitching at the insinuation of another pervert present in the blond's life.

Naruto arched an eyebrow, "You didn't know? Tou-san and Kaa-san appointed ero-sennin as my godfather. He might be a pervert through and through, but deep, very deep within he is a good man."

"Yeah…deep, deep within." Yūgao replied tersely, as another thought came to her mind. "Wait, you mean to say that not only you had a 'super-pervert' for a godfather and a mentor, but-"

"A pervert for a near godbrother and sensei as well." Naruto replied with a chuckle, as both entered the house while moving towards the living room. "Yeah, I know there was no way I wasn't going down that path. But still, I think I have managed to avoid going to their extreme levels. And while I like the opposite sex probably more than other guys and am open about my sexuality, I don't go out of the way to see female flesh. Besides, traveling with ero-sennin has made me familiar with the female sex to a level that very few males can accomplish. Let me tell you, no matter how much goofy he may seem, ero-sennin has extreme in-depth knowledge in that matter. And that is why I am able to do this."

"Do what Nar-" she had no time to finish her sentence, as the blond shinobi embraced her firmly. Her confusion was quenched when the blond began to speak, in a tone so serious that she still had trouble associating with the hyperactive, happy-go-lucky blond bundle of joy.

"I'm sorry Yūgao-chan." He spoke as he buried his head in her shoulder. "I'm sorry I forgot I had a friend even before I joined the academy. The friend who looked after me from the shadows, who would come out to play with me even though she didn't have to. A friend who I didn't even go to see when I became a ninja, when she should have been the first person I should have visited. A friend whom I abandoned when she was having the toughest time of her life. I'm sorry for not being the friend I promised to be."

Yūgao stood there, speechless as the blond poured his heart out in that apology and she knew that she could count on the apology to be sincere. In that moment, the blond ninja didn't feel like one who had defeated a legend like Hatake Kakashi. In his stead was a six year old kid who had promised to forever be her friend and take care of her, no matter what the circumstances. Her hands slowly encircled the lithe frame of the blond jinchūriki.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun. I knew that you had the attention span of a sparrow. And due to this I knew that you wouldn't have been able to keep up to me. Now, the fact that you are apologizing for a promise you broke nearly a decade ago shows how much you have grown. And that is what matters."

Breaking the hug, Naruto looked at her, eyes shining with conviction and determination, "Then this time I make a promise of a lifetime Yūgao-chan. I will always be your friend and I will protect you with my life if I have to." Yūgao would have become poignant, had the blond not followed it up with the nice guy pose, shining teeth and extended thumb included.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Several miles away from of the village, Might Guy suddenly stopped for no apparent reason, making his entire team, sans his mini-me, wary of him for some reason.

"LET GO THE POWER OF YOUTH!"

Their wariness proved correct when the eccentric shinobi suddenly pumped his fist into the air, tears falling from his eyes in the form of waterfall while somehow they simultaneously had fire burning within them. Neji and Tenten, despite having grown accustomed to their sensei, groaned, knowing what was about to follow.

"YOSH! GAI-SENSEI! LET'S EXPLODE WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Both Yūgao and Naruto shuddered as the phantom echo of YOUTH reached their ears, the feeling of wanting to stay away from the village gate suddenly creeping upon them.

"Anyways, now that you are here I wanted to tell you that I was going to place a few seals on each of you guys and wanted to know when you were free."

"What kind of seals?" Yūgao asked, interested in what the blond had in store.

"Not much truth be told," Naruto shrugged. "Some basic ones, including a chakra and health monitoring seals that informs me about the general health of the recipient. Another seal is embedded in that particular one that acts as a locating beacon once the health of the person drops down drastically, the worse the condition the faster the impulse. I have already etched one on Er0-sennin and one of my clones is searching for Kakashi-sensei so that he can get one too."

"Won't the chakra channeling through my body affect the seal?" Yūgao inquired, impressed with the seal and was already thinking of ways it could be used in the ANBU corps. "And why can you not place it on me right now?"

"For your chakra affecting the seal," Naruto began, "no, it won't. The seal is a passive one that does not come into action unless the conditions are fulfilled. So channeling your chakra into the seal won't have any effect on it. As for placing it now, can't do that Yūgao-chan. The seals are different for males and females. Etching them on Kakashi-sensei is easier than on you."

"Why not apply the same seals on both?" she asked, extremely impressed at the blond's work.

Naruto gave a sly grin at that, "Ero-sennin has the seal placed on his chest and Kakashi-sensei will have it placed on there as well. If you still want it there, I'm ready to do it right now."

Yūgao, despite being trained as an ANBU, couldn't help but blush at the blond's words. Quickly permeating it, she scowled at the cheeky grin the Tokubetsu Jōnin had on his face.

"Naruto-kun, do I have to bring my sword out?" she spoke in a sweetened voice, a voice that sent an involuntary shiver down the blond's spine.

He sighed while shaking his head, "You people seriously don't know how to take a joke. Don't worry, I already had decided to place one on Tsunade-baachan, and no matter how much it may seem I don't want to be on the receiving end of her fist. For females, the seal can be placed on their back, although a small part of it will still need to be etched on your chest and you will have to be topless for that. And before you start calling me a pervert, just think how much ero-sennin would have enjoyed being in my place."

The purple haired ANBU, who was on her way to label the blond a pervert, stopped for a moment and placed Jiraiya in place of Naruto before giving a shudder at the thought. She really didn't want to be in any kind of cloth-less situation with the self-proclaimed super pervert. Sighing, she simply decided to choose the better of the two evils, "All right Naruto-kun I'll let you place the seal." Overlooking the loud shout of 'Yatta', she continued, "But take one peep and I'll make sure that the Uzumaki name doesn't continue any further. Have I made myself clear?"

Naruto, not wanting any harm come to his family jewels, nodded fervently. "Don't worry Yūgao-chan, if I want to peek I'll simply ask. You'll let your favorite ninja have a peek if I ask like a good boy won't you?" he added in an all too innocent voice.

"Naruto-kun," Yūgao spoke, in a voice that Naruto immediately recognized, "please refrain from acting like your sensei, or I will have to make do on my promise to prevent you from procreating."

Naruto started shaking his hands in a placating manner, "Oh come on Yūgao-chan!" he whined, "I was just kidding! You guys really need to unwind a bit, you know. Anyways, now that you are here, we can finally catch up. I can apply the seals in a few days. You don't have any scheduled missions in the next few days, do you?"

The ANBU leader shrugged, "Don't know. You know that we can be called for a mission anytime. And returning to train so soon? Don't you want to rest?"

"I'll rest when I die Yūgao-chan." Naruto replied seriously. "Until then I have nine unknown S-Rank ninjas after me. And I won't stop training until I am sure that I can defeat each and every one of them without bringing any harm to my precious people."

A solemn look came across Yūgao's face, "You really intend to fight Akatsuki by yourself, don't you?"

"Not if I can help it. There are very few ninja currently in the village who can fight an S-Rank ninja by themselves, and while I may not be currently strong enough, I intend to reach that level."

Yūgao smiled wistfully, "Then I guess I will have to help you reach that level, won't I?"

Naruto gave a whoop in delight, bringing her in for a quick yet strong hug, before taking a few steps back. "Thanks Yūgao-chan. Knew I could count on you. Just tell me when you want that spar and I'll be ready. By the way, you didn't tell me why you came to see me."

The ANBU waved him off as both entered the kitchen, "Just wanted to ask you about that spar and how you managed to get a samurai to train you in kenjutsu. They are extremely secretive regarding their kenjutsu."

Naruto motioned for her to sit while he himself sat in front of her, and without using any seals, created a clone. "Tea or coffee, Yūgao-chan?"

"Some tea would be nice, I guess."

As the clone started preparing the beverage, Naruto answered, "Truth be told, I harassed him for close to a month before he even thought about teaching me. I told him about my status as a jinchūriki and how the Akatsuki can be a threat to the entire world, the samurais included. At first, he was outright denying, saying that it was a ninja matter and that no samurai could be seen helping a ninja as it would affect their neutral status."

Yūgao nodded, knowing that the samurai of Tetsu no Kuni would not endanger their neutral status.

"In the end, he understood how a group of S-Rank ninjas getting hold of the Bijū could be disastrous. Well that or he simply got fed up with my pestering."

A giggle escaped Yūgao's mouth, as she thought how true the last statement was. She remembered the first time she had made herself known to the energetic blond. After getting over the fact that he had a new friend, an ANBU to boost, he had pestered her for days to train him to be a ninja. Eventually, she had simply conceded to his wishes and, after getting confirmation from the Sandaime, taught him the basics of the ANBU taijutsu style, something which the blond had eventually gone on to adopt into his own style.

Naruto smiled, seeing his oldest friend happy and smiling. While he had been on the mass pranking spree the entire week, he hadn't been doing so just for the fun of it. Throughout the week, he had infiltrated every important building in the village. He had been told to do so by Jiraiya himself, in order to check the security in the village.

While infiltrating the ANBU headquarters hadn't been an easy task, he had done so. And there, he had seen the mission reports regarding Yūgao. The higher ups, while extremely satisfied with her work, were concerned with the increasing number of solo S-Ranks she had been taking. And it was only recently when she had started to mellow down a bit.

That had made him feel guilt-ridden, as he thought about how he had abandoned her at the time of her need. And it was then that he had decided to help her, as best as he could.

He refocused his attention, when he saw her talking.

"So, how was it travelling with Jiraiya-sama?"

"It was fun." He shrugged, "though for most part we stayed out of focus, didn't want Akatsuki to find out where we were. Though travelling with ero-sennin was nice. He may be a pervert, but man does he know his stuff."

"Really?" Yūgao asked, intrigued at what the Gama-sennin had taught the blond. "So, he must have taught you a lot of things."

Naruto smirked, "That was a nice way to try to find my abilities, Yūgao-can. Though I had thought you'd be more subtle."

Yūgao blushed, though Naruto knew it was due to the fact that she had been caught at the attempt to gather intelligence about his skill.

"You will have to wait like the rest to see what I am truly capable of Yūgao-chan. It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that there are still various things that I need to perfect and I don't want to use them unless I am sure about them. Still, when we spar, you can get to know about a lot of things, and I'll have the chance to better my kenjutsu."

The blond shinobi went on to tell the ANBU Captain about the various places he visited, along with the various missions he took, though he held back the details to a large part of it. Yūgao didn't seem to mind, knowing that as their jinchūriki, most of the details regarding him were considered a secret.

The pair talked for what felt like hours, which was further evidenced by the setting of the sun. When Yūgao started to excuse herself to go home, Naruto requested her to stay for dinner. When she tried to decline, saying that she had to prepare dinner for her roommates, Naruto decided to have none of it. He simply told her that he, and by that he meant his clone, would prepare enough food to feed at least ten people which she could take home for her roommates.

They were joined mid-conversation by Akeginu who had removed her red kimono and was dressed in a lose bath robe. Yūgao was not surprised to find the kunoichi in the house, the Hokage already having informed her that Akeginu would be living with the Uzumaki. The first few minutes that they talked, Yūgao felt as though she was being examined by the kunoichi. After those particular minutes passed though, the two females seemed to get along just fine. Naruto, who had gone to check on the food that was being prepared by his clones, returned into the room to find the two kunoichi getting familiar with each other and smiling at something. Though they immediately stopped when they saw him enter. Shrugging it off as females being females, although he had a hard time the two professional kunoichi acting as such, he informed them that the food had been served.

Yūgao tried to embarrass him saying that he wanted to have his date that night itself. Naruto, a deadpan on his face, simply said that trying that on him was not going to do anything, as travelling with perhaps the biggest pervert in the Elemental Nations had desensitized him to such acts.

In the end, the trio spent even more time talking about their travels while Naruto hectored her in trying to help him prank Granny Tsunade. She conceded that while most of the plans that he outlined were good, as an ANBU, the captain of Ro-Han nonetheless, it was her sworn duty to protect the Hokage.

Naruto merely refuted, saying that the pranks that he would do would her no harm and that it'd make her focus her job as Hokage even more. Naruto spent the rest of dinner flirting with the ANBU member and trying to get a rise out of her. And if the small blush by the end of the dinner was any evidence, he had succeeded in that endeavor.

Making her way home, large amount of food stored in special scrolls that the Uzumaki confessed was something he came up with to keep it warm, she couldn't help but feel how much she had enjoyed the evening with the blond and his house guest. While she could see that he was influenced by his teachers, he wasn't a complete pervert like either one of them. Something which she was pleased about.

Oh, she knew that when Kurenai and Anko found that she spent the evening with a male, she'd get teased to hell. Still, it was worth getting a good friend back.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, Naruto was going through a scroll. It was one that he had found quite recently and was something that even Jiraiya didn't know about. Although he had discussed it with Akeginu, who was in support of his method, no matter how decadent it may seem. As he browsed through it, having already read it scrupulously, he focused on the conversation he was having with his inner beast.

"You know what you have to do, don't you Kyūbi?"

" **You don't have to worry about anything brat. Just see to it that you fulfill your promise."** The colossal Bijū replied ambiguously. Although it wasn't necessary given the fact that the conversation was going on in his mind, the blond shinobi had gotten into the habit of keeping things as much cryptic as possible.

"How long will it take you to properly heal me?"

" **The entire night. Now stop procrastinating and get to it."**

"I'm doing it, you damn fox." Naruto grumbled mentally, as he moved towards the bedroom, Akeginu having already gone to sleep knowing what the blond was about to do. "And what will happen to my chakra control?"

" **It won't be shot to hell, as you are afraid of."** Kyūbi spoke with a sneer. **"Though I would recommend you to not use your 'super strength' until you get your control back up to par."**

Naruto could feel the sarcasm dripping from the Bijū when he spoke about the Tsunade's super strength. And truth be told, the blond knew that for a Bijū like Kyūbi, it was indeed nothing who could squash mountains with the flick of his tail.

"Damnit." He couldn't help but curse out loud. "All that effort simply wasted down the toilet."

" **You asinine ape."** Kyūbi growled, getting tired of the blond's grouching. **"Did I say that you can never use it again?"** This stopped Naruto short, as he once again focused on the conversation. **"I just said that you will have to make some effort to bring your control back to acceptable levels."**

Naruto nodded, relieved to hear some good news. "And using your chakra?" he asked further.

" **Using my chakra without any drawback is impossible unless you completely rip away the seal and defeat me in combat."** Kyūbi scoffed, **"If you are able to do that, I will happily give away my chakra for you to use. Till then, you will always be at a risk of running rampant. Though, if the procedure goes on without a hitch, it might get easier to overcome the bloodlust."**

Naruto sat in the bedroom, going through the information, before he noticed something although it was more like the lack of a certain someone. Before he could cry out in panic, he decided to ask his tenant. "Hey Kyūbi? Do you know where Fū-chan is?"

Kyūbi blinked once before paying attention back to the question the blond had put, before he started guffawing. His guffaws slowly turned to smirk as he addressed the blond shinobi.

" **You truly are one of a kind idiot."** Ignoring the loud protest of 'HEY', he continued **, "Did you forget that you were the one who sent her to the bug wielders? That airheaded girl is across the village, in the territory of those bug wielders. I still can't believe Chomei is sealed in someone like her and still enjoys talking to her."**

"I don't know." Naruto shrugged, "Besides if you leave aside the carefree nature, she is a good ninja. Anyways, I still don't understand how you freely use the names of other Bijū, yet when I ask for your real name, you deny it. Isn't that kind of being a hypocrite?"

" **Call me whatever you want, you brat. My siblings are nothing but fools who give their names to everyone whom they find interest in. The fact remains that until and unless you gain my respect, I won't give you my name bequeathed unto me by my father. And that can only happen if you somehow defeat me. And the way you are currently it is nothing but a pipe dream."**

"You say it now Kyūbi," the blond chuckled, "but when the fight between me and you ends, you will have to tell me your real name and acknowledge me as your first true friend."

Kyūbi simply scoffed as Naruto prepared himself for the night. **"As if I'll ever be defeated by a brat like you."**

XXXXXXXXXX

As the night wore on in Konohagakure no Sato, no one paid attention as a figure, decked in all black, moved through the village, using the shadows as though they were a part of his body. Eventually, he moved towards the outskirts of the village, the area surrounded by multitude of trees and looking as though no one had visited there for decades.

He searched for a while, before he finally came across a paved path, the path leading him towards a building.

The building, which seemed to be barely standing, had a traditional look to it, if one were to overcome the devastating state it was in. There was a nearly fallen apart gate, etched upon which was a symbol that was common in every Konoha flak jacket.

The spiraling symbol of the Uzumaki Clan.

The figure quickly, yet carefully, entered the building, knowing that the masters of fūinjutsu were not to be trifled with. He was therefore surprised when he did not encounter any trap even though he had entered the inner sanctum of the building.

Having reached the inner sanctum, he smiled when he found what he was looking for. In front of him was a podium, hanging on which were several oni masks, hung beneath three connected symbols of the clan, drawn under all of which were ornate, black flames.

The figure took out a scroll from his clothes, and channeled chakra into the kanji squiggled on it. Immediately, another scroll, much larger than the previous ones appeared in front of him. He unfurled the scroll, which had kanji, similar to that on the smaller scroll, squiggled on it. The only difference being, that the larger scroll contained several such drawings etched on it.

He started taking out each mask one by one and stored them in the larger scroll carefully. By the time he was done, only one mask remained. The figure cautiously picked the mask and taking a deep breath, put it on his half hidden face. As soon as he did, a feeling of dread passed through him, as though warning him that what he was doing was unnatural, but he persevered.

Knowing that there was no turning back, he went through hand seals at a lightning pace, before finishing with a clap of hands.

"Shiki Fūjin: Kai."

Suddenly, the wind picked up, billowing his clothes, the feeling of dread multiplying. The figure didn't know, but the limited amount of animals and birds that were near the temple, ran away in fear of their lives. No sooner had the figure finished the name of the technique, did the terrifying visage of the Shinigami appeared right behind him. He could feel the deathly smirk on the Death God's face as the God connected to his body.

The figure could feel as the Shinigami used one hand to expose its ugly, wrinkled stomach, while the other hand held his knife. The person could almost feel the grin on the God's face getting wider as it swung the knife and plunged it into its own stomach.

"Urk." The figure groaned in pain, as a similar looking wound appeared on his torso and blood seeped from his body at a tremendous rate. However, the figure's pain intensified when the Shinigami ran the knife across its torso, intensifying the wound on the person.

The figure gritted his teeth, waiting for something to happen, as blood continued to flow out of his body.

Suddenly, he felt something. He felt as though something was trying to escape his torso, more specifically the wound in his torso. He wanted to prevent that from happening, but a voice within his head stopped him short and shouted out loud that this is what he came to do.

Abandoning his previous thought, he simply let go. And from the wound in his torso emerged five lights. He knew what those lights were and who those belonged to. So, as one of the lights decided to go into a different direction, he and through his extension, the Shinigami caught it before it escaped.

After all, he didn't want the blight on humanity to get his arms back, did he?

He could feel it try to free itself and try to make a break for it. However, the Shinigami thought different.

He had already lost four souls from the pit of his stomach, and it wouldn't lose one which was in his grasps.

So, he pulled.

Hard.

The shard of soul was sucked back into the Shinigami and despite having lost four souls, it could do nothing as the person dissipated the technique and took off the mask.

Immediately, the feeling of dread vanished and the figure took a deep breath and focused his attention on the wound in his torso. Unsurprisingly, for him, the wound had started closing itself, although at an extremely slow pace.

Taking another breath, he placed the mask in the larger scroll and then stored the larger one back into the smaller scroll. He then took out four other scrolls and unfurled them all around him. As the kanji spread out, there were four puffs of smoke, which immediately dispersed to show four unconscious people placed at the center of each scroll.

"I really, really hate this technique." The person muttered, before he started going through another set of hand seals, albeit at an extremely slow pace, before speaking in a plain tone.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei."

XXXXXXXXXX

It was close to night in the village of Sunagakure no Sato. A white bird like figure, invisible to almost everyone in the ground due to the height, was flying above the village, a person perched atop its body.

The person was a man with slanted blue eyes and very long blond hair which he wore drawn into a half ponytail with the rest hanging down freely. The bang hanging over his left eye is what concealed his eye scope, signifying that he was most probably a long range fighter. He was dressed in a long, black cloak with red clouds, which hid whatever he was wearing underneath it.

As dusk made its way into the night, he quickly turned his focus to the three spider-like creations of his latched on to the three guards' faces, strangling them.

He huffed at the trio who were struggling to free themselves. "Look at those fools, showing no appreciation for true art. You have to feel true art, un." Forming a half ram sign, he smirked, "For true art is an explosion! Katsu."

The three spiders exploded, showering the area around the three with blood and brain matter, immediately ending their lives. The smirk widened, as the bird flew over to the large circular building at the center of the village. Swooping down to a certain height, the blond jumped off the bird and. with a somersault, landed in a crouch.

"Infiltration successful." He muttered to himself with a smile. The smile however turned to a slight frown as he noticed someone standing in front of him. As he looked up, he smiled at the person standing in front of him.

Gaara stood before the ponytailed blond, arms crossed over his chest, a stoic look on his face, as his clothes and hair fluttered in the wind. Gaara was a fair skinned person, which was somewhat of an oddity considering that he lived in the desert, and had short, spiky, auburn hair. He had pale blue‒green eyes with no distinctive pupils or eyebrows. Two things however made his appearance stand out- first, his tanuki‒like black eye rings, which he had since his birth. Second, the carved out kanji "love" (愛, ai) in red, on the left side of his forehead, the parted forelocks making the kanji more visible.

The Kazekage was decked in full‒length dark trousers, with a pair of laces on each leg, respectively a few inches below the waist and the knees, a long‒sleeved crimson coat with flaring hemlines and slits down on the lower half of the front and the back, a grey holster vest held in place by a single strap over his left shoulder and by two buckled belts which supported his gourd. He was also wearing another pair of casually worn belts around his waist. Finally, finishing the ensemble were a pair of Sunagakure's standard shinobi sandals.

The stoic gaze didn't leave the blond ninja as he stood back up, the grin on his face never faltering. They stared at each other for a few minutes, before Gaara decided to break the silence.

"This is as far as you go." He spoke in a cold, stoic tone, which would have made ordinary shinobi piss their pants.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the long wait everyone. I was going to upload this chapter more than three weeks ago but was unable to do so due to two particular reasons.**

 **First, the bane of every student. The five letter word that can terrify them to their cores. EXAMS! One entire week I did not even touch my system due to my mid-sem exams.**

 **Secondly, once the exams were over, as I sat to complete the chapter and upload it, I found that my system had crashed and I had to reinstall my OS. And me being the idiot I was, I hadn't created any backup for my work. Due to that I had to rewrite the entire chapter from the beginning.**

 **Anyhow, this is the result of one week of daily writing. Hope you all like it.**

 **Disclaimer: …Nope. Still don't own Naruto.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **The Bad News and the Second Encounter**

Dawn broke in Konoha, with most of the population enjoying the pleasure of sleep. It was therefore not noticed by anyone, as a greyish bird came careening into the Konoha Aviary. Natori, the Chūnin present in the building, looked in surprise at finding a messenger bird arriving so early in the morning. The surprise quickly turned to panic as he recognized the bird.

The peregrine falcon, Takamaru, was Suna's fastest messenger bird. For Suna to send him meant that whatever the matter was, it was urgent. As Takamaru raced into the room and sat on the usual landing zone. The scroll, containing kanji in bright red further increased the dread on the chūnin's face. However, he didn't let it get to him.

He went close to the bird and started going through a few hand-seals. Instantaneously, the scroll on its back unbound itself from the restraint and fell into his hands. Knowing that it needed his immediate attention, he ran to the Konoha Cryptanalysis Team.

As he entered the office that worked closely with the Aviary, he was relieved to see Yurika, one of the best decoder's in Konohagakure. Giving her no time to be surprised at his entrance, he shoved the scroll in front of her. Immediately, the professional countenance overtook the personal surprise, as the brown haired, brown eyed kunoichi broke the seal on the scroll and went on started decoding it.

She paled as she went through the message while decoding it, her face having turned deathly white as she read the full content of it. Not giving the chūnin in front of her any attention, she took the decoded message and ran, with only one destination in mind. She created a commotion as she ran, various early-risers hurriedly getting out of the way as she ran to the Hokage's Office.

Entering the building, she quickened her pace as she ran towards the office, side-stepping a bleary looking Shizune who had woken up hearing the commotion being made. However, seeing the panicked look on the kunoichi's face and recognizing who she was, all sleep left her face, as she herself quickly ran behind the chūnin towards the office of the Hokage.

Yurika burst through the door, but stopped short as Tsunade jumped up with a shout of "I'M NOT DRINKING!" The chūnin looked around the room, sweatdropping as she saw several sheets strewn across the room, and was there a sake bottle beside the desk?

She shook her head, this wasn't her job. She closed in on her boss, the panicked look back on her face.

Tsunade looked forward blearily, the sudden barging in on someone having woken her up. Thinking that it was Shizune, she was about to tell her pesky assistant to go away, before she focused on the person and was surprise to find someone else standing in front of her. She then noticed the panicked look on her face, and then her focus went to the scroll she held in her hand.

She was about to ask what the matter was, before Shizune barged into the office as well, catching the attention of both the Kage and the chūnin. Shizune stopped short once she saw that the kunoichi was already standing in front of Tsunade, scroll present in her hand.

"What is it Yurika-san?" Tsunade asked, having recognized the member of the Cryptanalysis Team, her tone sharp and demeanor, strict.

Yurika had just opened her mouth to speak, when Naruto appeared in the office, clothed in just a pair of ramen-themed shorts. Yurika, not accustomed to seeing such people having such good physique, blushed profusely. And while not profound, there was a slight tinge of red on the faces of the Kage and the medic Jōnin. Tsunade was about to reprimand the blond Tokubetsu-Jōnin for his lack of modesty, but stopped short when the blond spoke.

"Gaara has been captured Baa-chan."

Silence.

Silence permeated as the kunoichi present in the room absorbed what the blond had just vocalized.

The quiet was eventually broken by Tsunade, who was the first person to get hold of her thoughts.

"What do you mean by that brat?"

Naruto, who was about to speak, was intercepted by Yukari.

"Uzumaki-san is correct Hokage-sama." She spoke, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. Ignoring the flush at being the center of attention, she renewed her speech, "We received a message just now from Suna that they were attacked last night. Kazekage-sama fought the intruder and was apparently defeating him when he dropped some kind of extremely large explosive that would have destroyed Suna had Kazekage-sama not intercepted him. However, using this distraction the attacker somehow debilitated him."

Taking a deep breath, she continued her report as the trio listened to her in rapt attention, "They were unable to identify the attacker due to the fact that the entire fight took place in the skies with the attacker using some kind of a bird to stay in the sky. The only thing that they could make out was that he was dressed in a black cloak with red clouds. After incapacitating Kazekage-sama, the attacker then captured him and flew off. They tried to follow him, but most of the squad that went after them was killed as well."

She stopped for a moment, waiting to see the reactions of the people in the room. She wasn't surprised to see the pensive look on the faces of the Hokage and Shizune. It was the blond's face that surprised her the most. The serious yet determined look on his face made a shiver grow down her spine. Unbidden, the panic in her voice lessened, as she gave the last part of the message.

"They were killed when he blasted the area near the entrance of the village. However, Sabaku no Kankurō seemed to have made it across. When a team was sent behind him, they found him several miles into the desert, all of his puppets destroyed and he himself in a critical condition. When he was brought back, they found that he had been poisoned by an unidentified poison. They have requested for Konoha for help both in locating their Kazekage and in treating Sabaku no Kankurō."

Placing the scroll containing the entire message, she left the office but not before giving the blond shinobi another look, a blush making way to her face.

Meanwhile, back in the room, Naruto immediately turned towards Tsunade.

"Hokage-sama," he spoke in a serious tone, "I would like to be a member of the team dispatched to Suna."

Tsunade sat there, still surprised at the blond's mien. She still couldn't believe that this was the same person who, not three years ago, would shout out loud about his desire to become the Hokage. The surprise disappeared as she thought back to the matter at hand. She immediately turned towards her first apprentice.

"Shizune," she barked. "Go inform Sakura to get ready for the mission. If the Suna medics are unable to identify the poison, then it must be something new." She could personally attest to the ingenuity of the Suna Nin when it came to poisons, having had faced them in the Second Shinobi World War. If they were unable to identify it, then it meant that the situation was critical.

Not wasting any time, Shizune left the office in a hurry, mentally agreeing with the busty Kage's decision. For right now, apart from her and Tsunade, only the pink haired kunoichi had the medical prowess to deal with an unknown poison.

Back in the room, Tsunade turned towards Naruto, who stood in front of the desk. She sighed, before focusing her attention back at the blond. "Naruto, get Kakashi and tell him to be in the office within the next fifteen minutes. We have no time to waste. However, once you return to the village after the completion of the mission on how you came to know such classified information."

"I would also like to request for Akeginu-chan to accompany us on this mission," he immediately put forth, his visage so stone -like that even Tsunade shivered.

Knowing that time was being wasted, she asked, "Why?"

"She is a skilled kunoichi and the Akatsuki have minimal knowledge about her. I wanted to wait before utilizing her skills against the group, but now it would be a waste if she is not sent."

"You trust her that much?"

As Naruto nodded in reply, she was baffled with the amount of trust the blond was placing on the Iga kunoichi's skills. However, Jiraiya's proclamation regarding her skills was still in the back of her mind. And she knew that no matter what one said about the self-proclaimed super pervert, he was a good judge on ninja skills and if he said that she was a skilled kunoichi, she would bet that Akeginu was anything but.

"Permission granted. Now get going." She commanded.

"Hai Hokage-sama," Naruto nodded, his tenor not wavering even a bit.

"Pretty professional brat."

The countenance on the blond's face didn't change, "There is a time for being goofy, now isn't the time." He didn't wait for another reply and vanished, the only evidence that someone was there in the room was the slight breeze that blew in the closed office.

Fifteen minutes later, a familiar group of people were present in the Fire Shadow's office. Kakashi Hatake, dressed in his usual Jōnin attire, stood there, his face showing the severity of the situation. Naruto had told him what the matter was, and he wasn't surprised when they found the crux of the matter.

Akatsuki.

Just the previous day he had had a conversation with Jiraiya about how they were going to become a threat, not just to Konoha but to the entire Elemental Nations should they achieve their goals. And not a day had passed since the notorious group had made their move.

Naruto stood beside him, he too decked in his usual combat attire, the stiffness of his shoulders showing how he felt about this situation. On his other side, stood Akeginu in her blood red kimono kodachi strapped to her side, her face not betraying any emotion. Sakura stood on the other side of Kakashi in her usual pink uniform, anxiety carefully concealed by her poised expression.

Tsunade gave them a once over, before speaking in a tone that meant business, "Last night Sunagakure was attacked by Akatsuki. The ninjas of Suna saw only one attacker, but since we know from Jiraiya that they are known to travel in pairs, we can easily speculate that the other one was either hidden or didn't want to bother fighting. The attacker was confronted by the Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara and jinchūriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku."

A stifled gasp was heard from Sakura, whose hands covered her mouth, while her gaze shifted towards Naruto.

Tsunade continued, "He fought staunchly, but was somehow defeated when the attacker almost destroyed the village. He was captured and taken, most probably so that the Bijū sealed within him could be extracted. His brother, Sabaku no Kankurō, went after the attacker and was somehow incapacitated and poisoned with a yet unidentified poison."

"You four, with Kakashi as the team captain, are hereby ordered to go to Suna and help them out in any way possible, with your ultimate goal being thwarting the plan of the rogue group, Akatsuki. Due to the high probability of facing two S-Rank shinobi, this mission is declared an S-Rank mission, with the report forwarded straight to me. Is that clear?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The four ninja spoke unanimously.

"Good. Dismissed." She remembered something before they could exit, "Naruto wait!" He turned to face the Kage, "Jiraiya told me to inform you to use it with caution."

Naruto nodded, while everyone else, Tsunade included, tried to make out what the Sannin meant.

Exiting the building, the trio quickly made their way towards the Konoha gate and signing their mission form, exited the village. After travelling several hundred meters through the trees, the blond shinobi beckoned for them to stop.

"What is it Naruto?" Kakashi asked, his voice befitting an ex-ANBU captain.

"Just need to do something," he said as he made a familiar cross seal. _ **"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**_

Kakashi and Sakura were startled as the entire vicinity went chockfull with the blond's clones. Kakashi focused towards the real Naruto, or who he thought was the real Naruto, only to find him giving order to one of the clones.

As the clone dispelled itself, a large contingent of the clones separated themselves from the travelling group and went further into the forest, getting a raised eyebrow from the rest of the team. As the last of the clones finally disappeared, Naruto turned around only to find the rest of the group staring at him.

"What?"

"Oh, I don't know," Kakashi began mirthfully, despite the situation, seriously pondering whether the blond really had asked the question. "What about the fact that you suddenly ask us to stop even though not a couple of minutes ago you were the one who seemed to be in most haste. And do I really have to ask why you created so many clones?"

Naruto blinked for a few moments before responding. "Yeah. Sorry about that," he responded diffidently. "It had become sort of like a constant whenever I was travelling with Ero-sennin. Most of the clones that I created will act as scouts and dispel in case they find someone they themselves cannot dispatch. The rest of them have gone on to find a space good enough that they can train until I give them the order to dispel."

"Is it wise to train on a mission Naruto? Especially a mission as precarious as this?" Sakura asked, genuinely concerned about the matter.

"While I wanted to wait a little longer before restarting my training, the situation is such that it cannot wait." Naruto rationalized his actions. "I can be absolutely certain that we will confront Akatsuki in this mission and even with our numbers we will have to be cautious. With my clones, the training that I will get may or may not prove critical but it still increases our chances of defeating them."

Naruto shook his head, "You do not realize Sakura. Ero-sennin did everything he could to find out about Akatsuki and we still know next to nothing about them. We don't know how long it will take them to extract Shukaku. We don't know if there will be two of them or more and we don't know what abilities they will have. They have a head start on us and then there is the issue of finding them."

Sakura went to speak once again but was intercepted by Kakashi. "What Naruto states is true Sakura. While treating Kankurō is an objective, our primary mission is to intercept Akatsuki and prevent them from extracting Ichibi no Shukaku from Gaara. And if he thinks that he can handle the strain of his clones' training, then I won't stop him from doing so." he then turned towards Naruto himself. "Know this however. If I feel that you are unable to handle it, you will dispel your clones. You should also keep to remember that you cannot go on doing things like these without informing us beforehand."

"I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei," Naruto apologized. "It won't happen again. Now can we please go? We have already wasted quite a lot of time."

"We wouldn't have wasted it had you informed us beforehand what you were going to do," Sakura replied, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance as the group jumped back into the canopy, resuming their journey.

"Well sorry if I had to do something that was essential." Naruto replied sardonically, much to the ire of the pinkette.

She would have replied but the blond had turned his attention to the final member of the group and started talking to her. Seeing such a casual dismissal she vowed that she would make the blond pay. Right now they had a mission to complete.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto once again interjected before they could go any further, getting the team leader's attention.

"What is it now Naruto?" Kakashi asked, his eyes never deviating from the path that they were taking.

"I can lead us straight to Gaara."

Kakashi came to an abrupt halt, an action that was copied by rest of the team. Although there was the usual aloofness visible on his face, there was a sudden undercurrent of seriousness that wasn't missed by the entire team. An undercurrent that they had only seen a few times.

"How?" This was the only thing that he inquired.

"Kyūbi," Naruto replied in a single word.

Kakashi gave an internal nod at this. He knew that despite being close to the previous jinchūriki, Kushina, there was negligible knowledge on the skills that it provided mostly due to the fact that she never used it. So it wasn't difficult to say that the mightiest of the Bijū could provide its jailer with those kind of skills. However there was one thing that he was not sure about.

"And can you trust it not to do anything…nefarious?" he asked, still dubious about the Bijū.

"I have already said this Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said with a sigh. "He has already said that while not happy, he is ready to wait for some time before I open the seal. He doesn't have anything to gain if something happens to me. So yeah, I can trust him with this kind of information."

"Kyūbi can pinpoint Gaara's location?" Kakashi continued, deciding not to question his ex-student's decision on that matter.

"Nope," Naruto shook his head. "Sensing a person to that kind of distance is not possible even for Kyūbi. However it can sense the other Bijū no matter where they are present in the Elemental Nations. He says it is one of the perks being the mightiest of the Bijūs, his words not mine."

Kakashi's eyes widened as his eyebrows vanished into his hairline. That kind of an ability was…preposterous, to say the least. He could think about the practical application of such a skill, but right now they had a Kazekage to locate.

"Alright Naruto," Kakashi gave a short nod, "tell us where he is."

"You guys brace yourselves," Naruto said as he closed his eyes, getting in touch with the beast of destruction sealed within him. "It might be a bit overwhelming." 'You ready for it, Kyūbi?' the blond asked his inner beast.

" **Ready when you are brat,"** Kyūbi replied, the smirk on its face showing its monstrous teeth.

"All right, then hit me. We have a friend to save."

A couple of seconds, nothing happened. Naruto was about to make a sarcastic comment about how the Bijū had forgotten to use its own chakra, when he felt it.

Everyone in the clearing felt it. Kakashi felt like he had been teleported to the night of the Kyūbi's attack on Konoha, although he could definitely say that it was far less bloodthirsty when compared to that day, something he attributed to Naruto acting as a buffer. He turned to look at his teammates and was not surprised to find Sakura nearly shaking at the bloodlust. No matter how much one trained, there was not much one could do to get accustomed to the kind of bloodlust a Bijū emanated.

On the other hand, he himself was amazed to find that Akeginu was not that affected by the same chakra. This showed that she was either habituated to a Bijū's chakra or she was much more resilient than he had previously thought.

Back with Naruto, a rather familiar feeling of bloodlust slowly tried to overwhelm his mind, corrupting his senses, making him want to devour everything in his path. However this time it was in moderation compared to the last few times that he had felt it. This time, he did not let it overtake him. He did not let it devour his mind. He closed his eyes, concentrating on not losing his sanity as a crimson chakra encircled his body.

He would not succumb.

The whisker like marks became more prominent of his cheeks, his face gaining a more feral look. He snapped his eyes open, which now had a reddish tint to them, and to any normal person it would almost look violet in color. The red highlights in his hair darkened to an almost blood like color and covered a far larger part of his head than before. He stopped on a tree branch as he looked over himself.

" **This chakra is more powerful than before yet doesn't contain the bloodlust that it previously had."** Naruto observed mentally, and he could almost feel his voice sounding darker and more ominous.

" **Of course it is more powerful."** Kyūbi scoffed, though there was a hint of pride in its voice. **"This is the true wrath of the mightiest of the Bij** **ū** **. Now that I am complete, I can easily control the bloodlust. However, you will still have to train in using this chakra."**

" **I intend to do that when I return to the village."** The blond replied, as he tensed his muscles before shooting into the forest. He barely avoided getting smashed to Kakashi as he came to another stop.

" **Whoa!"** he exclaimed. **"I did not expect that. It will take some getting used to. I am faster in this form as compared to my seals."** Shaking the thoughts away, he muttered, **"I don't have time to waste here. Ky** **ū** **bi, can you sense Shukaku now?"**

A few seconds of silence later, Kyūbi replied.

" **About three hundred kilometers in the current direction."**

Naruto blinked at the vague answer. He'd thought that Kyūbi would provide a more specific location.

" **I could have provided a more specific location if I weren't sealed into a sniveling ape like you,"** Kyūbi replied to his thoughts, irritation evident in his voice. **"But for that, you'd simply have to release me from the seal and I know that you are unwilling to do that unless you think you are ready. As much as I can project my senses with the 'freedom' that you have given me, this is the current extent to which I can pin point the location of my worthless siblings. The closer I get to the tanuki, the more precise I can pinpoint the location."**

" **Anything else you can tell me,"** Naruto voiced his thought with a nod.

" **You remember the fan-wielding chick from Suna?"** Kyūbi asked.

" **Gaara's sister? Her name was Temari, if I remember correctly.** **Why?"** Naruto asked, as the few memories that he had of the girl came to his mind.

" **She is ahead of us. At about fifty clicks, moving at a slow pace. She most probably doesn't know that her brother has been shanghaied or else she'd be rushing faster than that."** Kyūbi informed the blond shinobi.

" **All right Ky** **ū** **, thanks for the info."** Naruto nodded inwardly even as the red chakra started receding back into his body and into the seal, the feral effects that he gained from the chakra reverting back to the normal state.

The sudden lack of the caustic chakra took him by surprise as he went down on one knee. He was immediately surrounded by the rest of the team who were now looking at him with concern in their eyes.

Using Kakashi's hand as a support, Naruto gingerly stood up and shook his head to get rid of the slight sense of vertigo that the sudden lack of the Kyūbi's chakra had caused him. Taking another deep breath, he turned back to look into the concerned gazes of his teammates.

"Don't worry you all," he said shaking them off offhandedly. "I am fine."

"Are you sure Naruto?" Sakura, her medical training compelling her, asked.

"Yep," Naruto nodded in affirmation. "The sudden lack of Kyūbi's chakra took me by surprise." Before anyone could comment on that, he continued. "Kyūbi said that Shukaku is about three hundred kilometers in our current direction. He can pinpoint a more precise location once we get closer towards him."

"Three hundred kilometers…"Kakashi began, a reflective look on his face as he considered what lay ahead.

"That'll put us somewhere in Kawa no Kuni," Sakura joined, confirming what Kakashi was about to enunciate.

"Kyūbi also said that it sensed Temari's chakra about fifty kilometers from our current location, and judging the speed at which she is going she most likely does not know about Gaara's abduction." Naruto added.

"And who is this Temari-san, Naruto-kun?" Akeginu asked, her interest piqued at the sudden mention of the kunoichi.

"She is the Kazekage's sister and among the more powerful wind users in Sunagakure. She also acts as the ambassador for Suna and spends quite a lot of time in Konoha due to her position," Sakura was the one who answered the question.

"In that case, I think we should catch up with her." She said without any hesitation. Seeing that she had their undivided attention, she continued, "You all say that she is one of the strongest in the village. So, once we catch up to her, we can explain her the situation and then plan out what we should do. An extra, strong ninja will be helpful to our situation no matter how you look at it."

"That's a good idea," Kakashi acquiesced with the former Iga kunoichi.

"Ok then," Naruto pumped his fists, "let's go."

The blond did not wait for another moment, before channeling some chakra into his leg muscles and jumped into the trees, leaving a cloud of dust behind. Kakashi, Sakura and Akeginu gave the trail a wistful look and without waiting jumped after him.

Ahead of them, Naruto was in a conversation with his tenant.

"How much have my skills been hampered?"

" **Enough that should you go against someone like that elder Uchiha, you are bound to be defeated,"** Kyūbi replied lazily, a bit of venom making way into his tone at the word Uchiha. **"Your chakra levels have almost doubled, and they will increase a few fold by the time complete assimilation takes place."**

Naruto cursed inwardly, knowing that with the lack of information and the sudden growth of his chakra levels, he had seriously hampered the chances of defeating someone like Itachi. While he had become an even greater juggernaut, he had lost on the side of skill. And that was one thing he had discussed with Jiraiya.

 _ **Flashback – Two and a half years ago**_

 _ **On the outskirts of Yu no Kuni**_

A thirteen and a half year old Naruto stood in the clearing, his hands in a ram hand seal as he tried to use the chakra of his tenant, like he had done on many previous occasions. Getting nothing for the next several minutes, he simply groaned and turned towards his 'sensei'.

Only for a sweatdrop to form on his face as the self-proclaimed super pervert let out an all too famous giggle as he 'researched' a group of girls playing in the stream nearby.

Naruto's eyebrows gave an involuntary tic at the situation. Here he was, trying to get the damn beast's chakra under control while his 'sensei', and he was beginning to use the term quite loosely, peeped on girls. They had been out for nearly a month and the pervert had barely taught him anything.

He moved forward, trying to be as stealthy as possible, until he reached behind the pervert. His leg muscles tensed and he pulled his right foot back, intent on giving the sage a kick on his groin, when the voice of said person stopped him.

"Do that brat and I promise you, I will personally see to it that you don't get a cup of ramen for the remainder of your life." The sage spoke, his attention finally shifting towards his young apprentice as the 'action' in front of him dwindled down.

"What were you trying to do by the way?" he spoke as he vanished his telescope in a storage scroll.

Naruto scowled, "I was trying to get your attention so that you could actually teach me rather than spend your time peeping on girls."

"And what happened to the task I had already assigned you?"

"I have been trying to do that for the last half hour, but the damn fox is not responding to anything I say."

"So," Jiraiya drawled. "What does it matter to me? I have already given you a task to do. It is not my fault that you are so inept that you are unable to do it."

"Shut it, ero-sennin," Naruto shouted, his face red with anger. "If I knew that you were going to train me like this, I would have stayed in the village and trained myself. Every day we waste, Sasuke is getting trained by Orochimaru."

"And," Jiraiya spoke calmly. "What do you think you are doing here? Learning how to raise kittens? I am trying to teach you to control a source of power in front of which even the biggest of ninjas feel insignificant. Or did you forget about the group of S-Rank Nin that are coming after you, or rather for the beast inside of you and have ways to counteract it?"

"Then how the hell is using Kyūbi's chakra supposed to help me, when they already have made plans to stop me from either using it or defeating me when I am using it." Naruto shouted, spittle flying from his mouth.

The words registered upon the Gama-sennin and he stopped short. He gave the blond's words a once over and tried to come up with a reply. However, with slowly rising trepidation he realized something. What his blond apprentice had articulated was indeed accurate.

Akatsuki had sent Itachi and Kisame after Naruto not because they were strong, but because they had the tools to prevent the blond from accessing Kyūbi's chakra. Kisame's sentient sword, Samehada, which had the power to absorb even a Bijū's highly potent chakra and Itachi's Sharingan, the pair of eyes which some said was comparable to those of Madara Uchiha, the only person who was able to make the Kyūbi to do his bidding. And while Jiraiya was not sure about that claim, he was damn sure that Itachi had a pair of eyes that were stronger than any pair in the last few generations.

The horror on his face stopped Naruto from speaking anymore, as his heart immediately went out to the older man.

"Hey, ero-sennin," he spoke softly. "You all right?"

Jiraiya snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Naruto call for him. His epiphany made way to a plan that was growing with the minute. He eventually spoke, "Brat. We have had a change of plans. Get ready to be train tougher than you have ever trained before."

 _Flashback End_

The discussion, and his remark, was the true turning point if his training. As the blond zoomed through the forest, leaving a carnage broken branches in his wake, he made a familiar cross hand-sign, as his own chakra, laced with the Kyūbi's chakra roared to life.

That was one thing the blond shinobi loved about the jutsu. While chakra control did help the technique, it was people having large chakra reserves that truly benefitted from it. As he dashed through the forest, even now he could barely feel any dent on his levels caused by the hundreds of clones.

"Thanks Kyū," Naruto replied happily, as he again dashed through the forest at a breakneck speed. "You're a pal."

" **I am not your 'pal' you brat,"** Kyūbi growled, a few tails lashing about. " **I am doing this because I agreed to your deal. And besides, it will be hilarious to mock Shukaku about how my jinch** **ū** **riki had to come rescue him from his plight."** Kyūbi finished speaking with a feral grin on its face.

Naruto shook his head, knowing that whatever he spoke would have no effect on the chakra entity. He decided to simply switch the topic.

Naruto simply gave a nod, ending the conversation.

"NARUTO!" the sudden shout from his team leader made the blond slow down a bit as he saw the rest of the team catch up to him. He could already see the faint sheen of sweat forming on Sakura's face as she most probably had tried to match his pace.

"What the heck did you from the clones for?" Kakashi asked exasperatedly, although there wasn't a twitch on his face. "Wasn't your previous batch enough for the training?"

"Sorry sensei," Naruto replied apologetically. "I forgot that I had already created some."

"Only you could forget creating that many number of clones Naruto," Sakura was the one to speak. Her speech, however, was somewhat broken due to the fact that she was taking deep breaths to even her heartbeat.

"You need to be more careful with how you use your clones Naruto-kun," Akeginu added in a reprimanding tone. "Rather than help you, they can easily be used to give out your location."

"I know Akeginu-chan," he huffed. "But I am doing this just for this mission. It's not like in every mission I will go around spamming an army of clones."

"I will believe it when I see it," she countered.

"You have seen me do it," the blond grumbled, just loud enough for the black haired kunoichi to properly to hear who replied with an icy glare as if challenging the blond to speak further. The glare immediately shut the blond up, getting a raised eyebrow from the remaining team members.

They spent the next few hours conversing trying to think as less about Gaara and the eventual conflict that they were bound to come across. Eventually, Naruto's own sensing abilities came into action as he felt a calm, familiar intent a few kilometers ahead. As the sister of the Kazekage came into view, the team slowed down.

"Temari-san!" Naruto called out as the girl turned around, an astonished expression on her face that was further enhanced when she saw the team that landed a few steps behind the blond. Meanwhile Naruto gave her a quick look over, an ability that he had learned from his perverted teacher.

The teal eyed beauty, with her blonde hair gathered in four ponytails was dressed in a short sleeved, black kimono that reached down to her legs, with along the sides and a revealing neckline. A red sash was tied around her waist, with the ensemble being finished with fingerless black gloves and the Suna Hitai-ate on her forehead.

The aggressive stance she had assumed as the blond had called out her name was replaced with a laxer one as she studied the team. He saw the recognition on her face as she saw Kakashi and Sakura. Although he was not that surprised when she turned to face Akeginu and him.

"Hey Temari-san," Naruto slowed his approach, arms extended in a placating manner. "I know you may not recognize me, but it's me Naruto Uzumaki. The guy who defeated your brother during the Chūnin exams?"

Temari squinted her eyes, as images of a rampant Shukaku outside the walls of Konoha came forth to her mind. It suddenly shifted to those of a loudmouth, orange-clad shinobi and how he had defeated Gaara and sparked something in him that made Gaara what he was today.

"Uzumaki-san?" she asked as realization dawned on her face. She truly wouldn't have recognized this shinobi as the same loudmouth she had met nearly three years ago, had he not introduced himself. "I didn't know you were in the village. What are you doing here? And I am sorry but I do not know your teammate."

"There is no time to discuss about that Temari-san," Naruto spoke irascibly. "Suna was attacked last night." He blurted out loud to prevent her from questioning everything. Of course, it seemed to have the opposite effect on the female.

"WHAT?" she shouted as panic overtook her calm face. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SUNA WAS ATTACKED?"

"We are on the way to Suna right now. If you'd like you can join us and we will explain everything on the way." Kakashi intervened.

While he should have told her the truth, given the fact that she was Gaara's sister, he did not want to waste time in doing something that he could have done while traveling. Besides, he knew that once he told her that they most probably knew where Gaara was then she would likely ask to join them.

Temari took a deep breath, letting the panic dissipate. Although, the tensing of her shoulders showed that she was affected by the short message. As a calmer look came on her face, she stowed away her scroll, before tightening the sash around her waist.

"Alright Hatake-san. Let's go," she said, her voice saturated with determination.

Kakashi nodded, before jumping into the trees, quickly followed by Temari and the rest of the team.

"And I would prefer if you called me Naruto, Temari-san. I'm not one for honorifics until you truly deserve them." Naruto commented, his focus straight ahead.

"If that is the case, then I would prefer if you called me by my name as well. Now, could you please tell me what you meant by the fact that my village was attacked?" she asked, almost impatiently.

"We got a missive from Suna this morning…" the blond went on to regale the entire incident since the morning. Throughout the conversation, Temari held a calm look on her face. Her mind, however, was a maelstrom of emotions as his sensing abilities easily picked out.

The panic due to the fact that her village was attacked. Relief when Naruto told her how Gaara had prevented the attacker from causing any harm to the village. That relief turned into fear as she learned how Gaara had been captured and the organization Akatsuki planned to extract the Bijū from his body, in effect killing him. That fear worsened when she heard about the critical state her younger brother was in.

"…And that is when we found you and decided that you needed to know about your brother." Throughout the explanation, he had not spoken about how he himself was the jinchūriki of Kyūbi or what they were going to do now that they had caught on to her.

"…Thank you for informing me Naruto," she spoke with a shaky breath. "How soon do you think we can reach Suna? Had I been alone I could have done that more quickly as compared to a team. It is a treacherous path, with the desert making travel even worse."

Naruto took a breath, knowing that his plan depended on the next words he spoke.

"That's because all of us are not going to Suna, Temari-chan."

Temari almost stumbled in her jump, but was somewhat able to right herself.

"What do you mean you're not going to Suna, Naruto?" she spoke through gritted teeth.

"We don't know how much time Gaara has before Shukaku is extracted from him," Akeginu was the one to reply, not slowing down even a bit as she was able to keep up with the two Jōnin and the juggernaut named Naruto. "We don't know if he will survive were we to go to Sunagakure first. We still haven't decided who, but we will go and save Gaara as well."

"And how do you propose to do that?" she asked, her furious gaze turning towards the said kunoichi. "Are you going to search the entire Kaze no Kuni and Hi no Kuni for my brother? Hoping that these Akatsuki members will simply be waiting for you to take Gaara back?"

"Don't patronize us, Temari-san." Naruto ground out. "While it may seem a hair-brained idea to you, we have already a basic outline as to what we are going to do."

"Your brother is not the only one who has a beast inside of him. He is not the only one that has been branded with the power of the human sacrifice." The last part was spoken with such vehemence that Temari recoiled from it, making Naruto soften as he glanced back at her.

He took another deep breath, almost thanking Jiraiya for teaching him how to meditate and calm himself down. "I am the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune. As a jinchūriki, I have some abilities that are unheard of in the shinobi world. Like Gaara's control over sand, I have an ability that enables me to sense the emotions of people around me, although the Kyūbi is more attracted towards the negative emotions humans have."

"Being the strongest of the Bijū, Kyūbi has another ability," he added. "It has the ability to sense the other Bijū across the entire Elemental Nations, including their current whereabouts. I could have asked it for a particular nation for any Bijū, but since it considered itself so high and mighty, it rarely paid any attention to the geography of the nations. Leaving me with just the directions."

" **Fuck you too, ningen."** Said inner beast remarked.

Naruto continued, not showing any visible reaction to the comment. "And that is where we need your help Temari-san. I am strong, as are most of the people on this team. However, Sakura here needs to go to Suna so that she can heal Kankurō who needs the help of a medic of her capabilities." The smoldering look that he gave the medic shot down any protest from said person. "The question remains who will go along with her? You know the fastest route to Suna while Kakashi-sensei can provide a much better protection."

"Thank you for making all the decisions Naruto…" Kakashi drawled lazily. "It was like for a moment I wasn't the captain of the team."

"Ah, sorry Kakashi-sensei" Naruto said apologetically. "Got lost in the moment."

"Nevertheless, it was a good question that you put forth," Kakashi mused as he turned his attention towards a silently fuming Sakura. "Now don't be like that Sakura. You know that your skills are needed right now in Suna rather than with us. And no matter how much my cute little genin has grown, I don't feel it would be responsible of me to let you go there all alone."

"I am a chūnin damn it," Sakura groused. "And I can make it by myself to Suna. I have been there before and can go there if I have to."

"That would still be highly irresponsible of me to do." Kakashi countered. "Just as it would be negligent of me to let Naruto go after Gaara knowing that Akatsuki will use it as an opportunity to capture him."

Naruto grumbled well naturedly as he jumped a few steps ahead. He knew that as he was at the current moment, going off to fight a pair of S-Rank ninjas would be nothing short of suicide.

Meanwhile, Temari ran alongside the group, gloomy silence on her face. She was still comprehending the fact that the blond was a jinchūriki as well.

"How?" she voiced it, almost too low for most to hear.

"What was it Temari-san?" Naruto apparently had heard her question. His inquiry had caught the rest of their attention.

"How were you so sane yet Gaara so bloodthirsty, if both of you are jinchūriki?" she asked, her voice growing louder with each passing second.

"That is something I question myself." Naruto breathed, "Maybe it was due to the fact that ever since I was a kid Sandaime-jiji was there for me. He would come meet me, talk to me when others wouldn't and take me out for having ramen. Later on I found more people and they became close to me. Then on my first mission, I found out my purpose for becoming a ninja." He had a soft smile on his face, as he thought about his meeting with Haku and how the effeminate looking boy had given him a purpose.

His true purpose.

"What was it?" Temari asked, a smile making way on her face despite the gravity of the situation. She couldn't deny that the blond had a captivating personality.

"That a person gains true strength when he fights not for oneself, but for the sake of his precious people. Whenever I fight, I fight to protect my precious people. If someone is a threat to them, I will terminate him. If any one of them is in trouble, I will move heaven and earth to help them. And this is what I taught Gaara when we fought."

Everyone else was engrossed to the blond's words, having not heard this before. Kakashi and Sakura were finally realizing how the Wave mission had affected the blond. They knew about Haku and how Naruto had met him and gained a close bond with the ice-wielding ninja. But they had never grasped how deep the effect that one particular meeting had had on the blond. The way he was speaking now, the conviction held in his voice showed how deep he held this belief.

Naruto continued, unheeding to the people travelling beside him, his gaze focused on the Sand kunoichi. "I am sure ever since then, he has fought for the sake of his precious people. And that is the reason he risked his own life in order to save the villagers. As the Kazekage, he considers them to be his precious people. Though if I know him, he still has the same stick in his ass look."

Temari's smile widened, as she thought how the blond was spot on in his assumption. Ever since the Konoha Invasion, Gaara had become more protective of his elder siblings, and though he did not show it, he was overjoyed when people accepted him as the Kazekage. She herself sometimes wished that her brother went out and had some fun.

The mood fairly lifted by the heartfelt words, the group continued running at the same pace for the next several hours, only taking the occasional break to rehydrate themselves and once to have a short break for lunch. Throughout the travel, Naruto kept talking to Temari, about her life in Suna and her reason for coming to Konoha. When she told him how she was Suna's ambassador to Konoha, he got super excited and told her how he would have to take her to a place called Ichiraku when she came the next time.

He would occasionally flirt with her, telling how she looked like a strong kunoichi and how he liked strong kunoichi. Temari would then use her handheld fan to try and hit the blond, only for the blond to dodge any attempts she made, frustrating the kunoichi even further.

Naruto however was doing so for a reason. He wanted Temari to not focus on the fact that one of her brothers was captured, while the other was in a critical condition. If he had to face the wrath of the kunoichi for that, he'd happily do that.

It was several hours after the sun had set and darkness had surrounded them that Kakashi motioned for them to stop, something which all the three kunoichi seemed grateful about. Though they wouldn't say it, keeping pace with the blond and the seasoned Jōnin was a hectic task, as evident from the layer of perspiration on their faces. Naruto, on the other hand, hardly seemed fazed by the pace as there wasn't even the hint of sweat on his face.

Taking a deep breath Kakashi began, "I think we should rest for the night. We are a few miles from the border of Kawa no Kuni. We can take this time to decide how we are going to proceed with this mission."

While Temari started setting up the camp, Naruto made a dozen clones each of them moving off in different directions.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, the dozen clones taking everyone sans Akeginu by surprise.

"The clones will place proximity seals in a radius of half a mile," he spoke in a blasé tenor, as he took out some paint and a brush and inscribed a seal matrix on the ground, not noting the surprise on Temari's face. "Should anyone enter the area, it will affect this matrix alerting us of their presence, giving us time to escape this area, or at least hide."

"You know sensei," Sakura mumbled as the teacher-student duo, along with Temari, watched Naruto paint the seal with concentration that belied his usual demeanor. "No matter how many times I see him, I can't believe that Naruto can get this serious with fūinjutsu."

"You find that implausible?" Kakashi asked with a usual eye-smile. "Do you know how many times in the last two days have I felt that I was talking to my sensei? It is uncanny how he behaves like Kushina-sama for one moment before switching to act like him. And the way he makes seals?" he shook his head at that moment. "It is like watching a combination of Minato-sensei and Kushina-sama at once."

"He knows seals?" Temari cocked her head, the facet of the shinobi startling her further as she still tried to fit that into the image she had of the blond.

"Huh," Naruto sighed in annoyance. "Why is it that people find it surprising when they get to know about this? I am an Uzumaki. It is almost guaranteed that I will know at least a modicum of fūinjutsu. Besides, I have been training with Jiraiya, who himself is a seal master."

Temari smiled, shaking her head at the blond's antics. "It's not that you cannot learn fūinjutsu. It has more to do with the fact that it is a more esoteric art and not many are known to practice it, due to the patience required to learn it. And the last time I saw you, you seemed as patient as a kid on a sugar high."

Naruto huffed at the insult, though he did not bother denying it. Besides, he knew that, at that time, his restlessness was a result of the excessive Yang chakra he gained from the Kyūbi. It wasn't something he was going to go about proclaiming to others though.

Having finished inscribing the seal, he took a deep breath as he let the chakra infused ink dry out. Knowing that by now his clones would have done their job, he started going through several hand seals within a few seconds, the pace of which surprised Temari, as he slammed both his arms to the ground, followed by a soft "Fūin".

The large seal matrix folded unto itself, the kanji shrinking it was in the shape of a small, fist sized circle. Naruto smiled, happy at his effort. He knew that though it wasn't his own creation, the modifications he had made were surely good enough.

He turned towards Temari, who looked flabbergasted. "How the hell did you do that? Seals aren't supposed to do that!" she exclaimed as she pointed towards the shrunken down shiki.

"That's where you are wrong Temari-chan." Naruto spoke, giving off a sage-like aura, getting blinks from Kakashi and Sakura while Akeginu shook her head in exasperation as though she had already heard this several times before.

"Unlike nin, tai and genjutsu that have their own shortcomings, the only thing limiting fūinjutsu is the user's imagination. A true seals master can do anything, from opening rifts in space to sealing entities large enough to destroy villages in the blink of an eye. In fact, if a true seal master want, he can even control the Shinigami."

"You-you're kidding," Temari spoke in a shaken voice. "There is no way fūinjutsu can control the Shinigami. He is a God, for crying out loud."

"What I said is true Temari-chan, whether you believe it or not," Naruto shrugged. "Anyways, I didn't think you to be one to be interested in fūinjutsu."

"Are you kidding?" she cried, still skeptical the blond's claim. "I have been trying to learn as much as I can. But the fact is that there aren't many seal masters available. Our village has a good one but she is old and denies to do anything related to the village."

"If that is the case then I can teach you," Naruto commented offhandedly his attention towards Kakashi and Sakura who were off setting up the sleeping bags for the night.

Taken aback by the sudden offer, Temari blinked. She did so a couple more times, before finally finding her voice. "Why would you do that?"

"Do what?" Kakashi asked as he sat in front of the fire that the blond had prepared, Sakura sitting to his right, while Akeginu came from Kami knew where and sat beside Naruto.

"Oh, nothing. Temari-chan was searching for someone to teach her fūinjutsu and I volunteered." Naruto answered nonchalantly before turning towards Temari once again. "And do I need a reason to teach someone? You are interested in fūinjutsu and I know you are a decent person. Therefore, I am willing to teach you. Besides, it gives me the opportunity to talk to a gorgeous female, so it's a win-win situation for me."

Temari thanked the night, as it hid the blush that she had on her face. While she wasn't vain, she considered herself to be pretty. However, being the sister of the Kazekage, who once was a cold-blooded slayer, meant that she wasn't used to this kind of blatant flirting.

Sakura wanted to pummel the boy for acting like a pervert while Kakashi couldn't keep the smirk off his hidden face, congratulating himself how at least one of his students had taken the correct path. It took some time and the intervention of the literary god himself but he finally had someone who travelled the path of the righteous. Needless to say Kakashi was a huge follower of Jiraiya.

Naruto, unheeding to the effects he was having on the young woman, continued, "However I won't be able to teach you my family secrets as that is something that is only passed down in the Uzumaki. Sorry about that." He gave her a slightly apologetic look. The Uzumaki fūinjutsu was his legacy, his responsibility.

He was about to turn towards Akeginu when he felt a sudden shift on his other. He turned back, only to be startled as the blonde girl gave him a deep bow.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Naruto-san."

Naruto facepalmed, following it with a sigh as the rest of the team were focused on the duo. Hey, you gotta enjoy the small things in life.

"Of course she had to do that," he muttered. "Oi, Temari-chan. Stop doing that would you? I have already told you to call me by my name."

"I still don't know how to thank you then, Naruto-kun," she spoke, the last part somewhat reluctantly.

Naruto cocked his eyebrow at the newest term of endearment, making the slight blush on Temari's face go an even deeper shade of red, one that went on increasing as Kakashi let forth a perverted giggle.

The scene was broken when a Naruto clone entered the clearing, his hands containing several dead rabbits. Fifteen minutes, and a hearty meal later the group sat around the fire with contemplative looks on their faces as they thought about the situation at hand.

"Alright then," Kakashi began as he turned towards Naruto. "Can Kyūbi pinpoint Gaara's location?"

Without any preamble, Naruto took a deep breath and took a meditative stance. The next minute, red wisps of chakra could be seen around the blond as his face gained their more feral features. Sakura and Temari shook as the bloodlust washed over them, although Kakashi and Akeginu did not look that affected by it. Not a second later though the feeling vanished and Naruto opened his eyes.

"He is not that far from here." He answered to their probing looks. "Another fifty kilometers from here. However, his location is somewhat near Tani and sends us further away from Suna."

"That can be a bit of a problem then," Kakashi mused.

"I think," Akeginu began, getting everyone's attention. "That Sakura-san and Temari-san should continue on to Suna." Temari was about to shout in protest but Akeginu's arched eyebrow silenced her. "You need to act like a kunoichi Temari-san. As it is right now, you know the fastest route to Suna and can take Sakura-san to treat your other brother."

"As for rescuing Gaara," Kakashi interjected, "we know that Akatsuki travel in pairs. So it is certain that when we reach him, we will have to fight two of them. I shall take on one of them while Naruto and Akeginu shall take the other. I'm guessing that the two of you are accustomed to fight together?"

Naruto and Akeginu nodded in affirmation as Kakashi continued. "I have already sent Pakkun back to Konoha asking for reinforcements but the chance that it will arrive in time is negligible. We are blind about the situation. We don't know who we will fight. We don't know how many we will fight. Our guess that we will face two S-Rank ninjas is just that, a guess. So, on the first hint that there are more members of the group present we will back off and wait for reinforcements. Is that clear?"

"Yes." Akeginu, Sakura and Temari nodded, the latter two albeit reluctantly.

"Naruto, I asked is that clear?" Kakashi asked, more like demanded, once he saw that the blond hadn't replied.

The blond was silent for the next few seconds before nodding begrudgingly. He had had this kind of talk with Jiraiya and Akeginu before and even they had warned the blond to not even try to take on more than one member by himself. As he was right now, fighting even one member would be difficult. More than one would be nothing short of suicide.

"Good," Kakashi nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Tomorrow, as soon as the sun rises, Akeginu-san, Naruto and I will go to Gaara's location and hopefully launch a rescue operation. Meanwhile, you two," he said pointing towards Sakura and Temari, "will try to reach Suna as quickly as possible. I will summon Pakkun to go along with you. Temari-san, I know it will be difficult but I want you to get a team prepared as quickly as possible and come back us up. Pakkun will help the backup team in finding us.

"I know it will take some time for you to reach us, but if by then we haven't had rescued Gaara then the extra hand will help." Temari nodded, satisfied with the plan.

"See to it that you bring a team of your best Temari-chan," Naruto added. "We don't know who we will be facing but we do know that they will be in the leagues of Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki."

Temari, her eyes wide as she recognized the caliber of ninjas who had taken Gaara, was about to interrupt the blond when the blond stopped her, "I know it feels that we won't be able to do it, but for the last near three years I have been trained by Jiraiya-sensei for this specific purpose. We can take them on Temari-chan."

"All right, Naruto-kun," Temari replied after a few moments of silence.

"Well then," Kakashi clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention. "Now it would be best if we rest nicely. We need to be well-prepared for tomorrow. Naruto, you are going to be first watch. Wake me up in four hours."

"Okay sensei," Naruto replied.

Temari nodded, as she unsealed her camping equipment and started setting it around the fire, a troubled expression on her face as she thought about the eventual confrontation.

"Naruto-kun?" she asked to the blond as he began getting prepared for the task. "Do you think we can save Gaara?"

"I don't know, Temari-chan," Naruto confessed before turning towards her. "I could easily lie to you and tell you that we will save Gaara to get your hopes up. But truth be told, I don't know how they are going to extract Shukaku. The only thing I am sure of is that in order to do so, they will require some huge firepower so that it doesn't go on a rampage once it is extracted."

He nodded as he checked that everything was okay with the seal, before continuing, "Extracting a Bijū from its jinchūriki is easy, but they have to do it in a way that they can keep it under control. And doing that requires precision. Jiraiya-sensei and I have already discussed and looked for techniques that are capable of doing so and we have come empty handed. We just think that level of precision required will necessitate time relative to the level of chakra the Bijū possesses."

Naruto took a breath. "It is only speculation, mind you. But still, it is better than any other information that we have on the group. That gives us some time to save Gaara."

He could see sigh at that. He knew that his words had given her some kind of relief and that is what he wanted to do. He went to her, giving her a one-armed hug.

"I know these words may not mean anything, but don't worry Temari-chan," he whispered, as she placed her head on his shoulder. "You know we will try our level best to save him."

"I know Naruto-kun. Though I can't help but be scared for him. It is my duty as an elder sister," she spoke softly, enjoying the warm feeling that the blond gave.

After a few seconds, Naruto broke the hug and started moving towards the forest, the act confusing Temari.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi asked, having paid a close attention to the blond's speech, a feeling of pride emanating from him.

"Don't worry Kakashi-sensei," Naruto waved without turning around. "I'll be nearby."

"You sure about that?"

"Yup," his voice trailed off as he vanished into the night, his voice echoing in the clearing. "And don't worry Temari-chan, I'll protect you while you are asleep. You too Sakura-chan, don't worry I didn't forget about you."

And though she couldn't see him, Temari could almost feel the assurance that Naruto sent towards her. As she drifted off to sleep, she could almost feel his presence all around her, protecting her.

XXXXXXXXXX

As Naruto travelled some distance away from the camp, his inner fuzzy decided to speak up.

" **Well, that was so sweet that it made my teeth rot** ," Kyūbi commented. **"What you gonna do next? Jump her bones as a payment for saving the brother?"**

Naruto's eyebrows twitched. "If you knew a modicum about human feelings, you would see how worried she was about Gaara. What I did was just to take her mind off of it so that she doesn't make a mistake when the fight occurs. Besides, you know that she likes someone else."

" **Pfft,"** Kyūbi scoffed. **"As if I need about something as insignificant as human feelings. You humans are nothing but a bag of bullshit, going to such extents just to get laid. And has she said that to you?"**

The twitching increased few fold. "I did not say those things to get laid, as you so eloquently put it and no, though she hasn't said it as that is what I have heard and saw the last week when I was snooping around in Konoha."

" **See, Bullshit right there,"** the blond could feel the capitalization of the B in that as Kyūbi drawled. **"And since when did you start taking what others said into consideration? Whatever…these human affairs are not of my interest. What do you intend to do now?"**

A couple of minutes and another barrier later, Naruto sat cross-legged in the center of the clearing, his gaze towards the area where his teammates were resting. He stood up when he felt the person cross the proximity seals of the inner barrier, his sensing abilities already identifying who she was.

Not a few moments later, Akeginu landed beside him in a crouch, her kimono not ruffled even the slightest bit. Standing up, she turned towards the blond.

"The barrier?" she asked.

"Already functioning," Naruto answered with a smile before making a familiar cross-seal.

" _ **Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**_

This time close to a couple hundred clones were created who looked at the duo standing at the center.

Naruto nodded, happy at the number that he wanted to create. The training from the clones he had created earlier in the day showing result as he had a much better grasp of his chakra.

"You guys know what to do."

Not waiting for another moment, the small legion again broke off into several smaller groups before heading in separate directions. The original waited for them to disappear before he turned back towards the clearing.

"So," Akeginu began in a tone as cold as ice, "you going to teach her fūinjutsu?"

"I had reasons for giving her the offer you know." He validated his decision, hiding a wince at the tone.

"And…" his companion asked, one of her eyebrow raised in curiosity.

Naruto gulped. "First, she showed true curiosity and the desire to learn it, something that very few show due to the complexity of the art. Second, from what ero-sennin told me, the seal used on Gaara was a sloppy showing the level of seal masters Suna has. And if there ever comes a situation that something happens to Gaara, a good fūinjutsu user will be helpful."

"Besides, it's not as if I will be able to teach her that much, what with she being in Suna most of the time," he shrugged. "The only time I can teach her will be when she comes to Konoha and then I will have to be present. You know that will provide me with just a few opportunities to teach her anything substantial. If she goes on to utilize it decorously then good for her."

"Nothing I say is gonna dissuade you, is it?" Akeginu asked after taking a deep sigh as she sat down beside him.

"Nope." He answered with the habitual goofy grin stretching across his face.

" **You are going to take his help in the battle?"** Kyūbi suddenly asked, its eyebrows raised while the nine tails it had swished in excitement.

"You know I cannot," Naruto spoke, getting quizzical looks from Akeginu at the sudden response. "He said that the only reason that he is staying is to train me. And right now is not the time to learn anything new. I would have sparred with him, but that may be counter-productive." He turned towards Akeginu and elaborated at her confused expression, "Kyūbi was asking if I was going to take his help."

As understanding dawned on her face, she replied, "Are you sure about that? You know that with his help the battle will be almost too easy."

"I cannot let someone else solve our problems all the time Akeginu-chan. He is strong, no doubt about that, but if I cannot handle this how can I effectively lead the village once I become the Hokage? I can't just keep relying on someone else."

"I understand," Akeginu sighed, placing her head on the blond's shoulder, an action that did not seem alien to the blond as he brought the black haired kunoichi to a side hug. "But promise me that if the things go sour, you will take his help." Getting a nod as a reply, she turned towards the clones who were training although she could see the resentment in some of their eyes as they saw their creator in such a comfortable position with her. "Now what was this spar you were talking about?"

"Nothing," Naruto replied as he too similarly looked towards the horde of clones, dispelling the ones who looked that they were on the verge of attacking him.

His clones really were special like that.

"I just told Kyūbi that I would have sparred him but it truly would be counterproductive. Yes, I would have gotten last minute training but I want to be a hundred percent when we face Akatsuki and you know that after fighting someone of his capability I wouldn't be so."

" **Yeah, sparring,"** Kyūbi chuckled mystifyingly. **"Call it that if you wish. I cannot wait to see the ass-kicking you receive when you 'train' with him. It will be humorous to see how you come back crawling to me once he is done with you."**

"You say that now," Naruto chuckled wryly as he lay down in the grass, Akeginu following him as she placed her head on his shoulder once again. "But what happens once he teaches me everything he knows? Will you be able to defeat me then?"

" **Don't push it too far, human,"** Kyūbi growled. **"Even if he teaches you everything, you will still be nothing but a speck of dust beneath my shoes. A speck that I will make sure ends."**

Naruto did not say anything, knowing that Kyūbi was now at least cautious of him instead of the simple waving off he used to do previously. The challenge had been made.

What would one day follow, was war.

"You know," Akeginu began lightheartedly, "you seriously need to stop talking to yourself. Everyone will start thinking that you have gone insane if they catch you doing that. Anyways, good night Naruto-kun."

Naruto did not get any time to reply when Akeginu gave him a small peck on his whiskered cheek before falling into the realm of Morpheus. He chuckled before making a few one handed seals, the barrier seal he had initially created morphing into a small spiral as he finally came to the last hand seal. He smiled as he finished applying the self-deactivation part of the matrix glowed signifying that it would activate in a particular time period.

He then turned towards Akeginu who had already fallen asleep, the long journey having exhausted her not that she had shown it. He brought his free arm around her, taking her in a gentle hug before he too passed off into the realm of dreams.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, the group woke up just as dawn approached. Kakashi was obviously miffed that Naruto did not wake him up, though the blond's explanation about how he wanted the team leader to be at his best somewhat mollified him.

Kakashi summoned Pakkun, who informed that Tsunade had dispatched Team Gai as their backup, something which Kakashi seemed relieved about knowing that his self-proclaimed rival would without a doubt reach far quicker than any other team.

The group, as decided the night before, split off into two, with Sakura, Temari and Pakkun rushing off towards Suna while Kakashi, Naruto and Akeginu went further into the Land of Rivers, on the path decided by the Kyūbi.

" **Watch out brat,"** Kyūbi warned. **"I sense a familiar chakra signature a few miles ahead."**

"How strong?" Naruto asked.

" **Strong enough,"** Kyūbi commented, Naruto's countenance turning far more serious at Kyūbi's tone.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto spoke, getting the veteran Jōnin's attention. "Kyūbi has detected a familiar chakra signature a few miles ahead. We will have to be careful as to who it is."

Kakashi nodded, immediately being on guard for any activity. They travelled further, when Naruto suddenly stopped.

"Damnit!" he cursed, as he crouched on the tree branch.

Akeginu landed on the tree just beside him while Kakashi was crouched on the one by his other side reached his tree, crouching beside him.

"What is it Naruto?" the team leader asked.

"Kyūbi recognized the chakra signature." Kakashi gave a curious expression, to which Naruto elaborated, "Its Itachi Uchiha."

Kakashi froze as he heard the name. There was a reason the Uchiha was infamous. Everyone knew that the clan destroyer was considered a boogeyman amongst ninja. The prodigal ninja was famous for his skills with the Sharingan. However, his in-battle skills were the reason that he had been given an S-Rank in the Bingo Books with the bounty in the hundred millions. Kakashi remembered how a single glance into his Mangekyō Sharingan had left him comatose for a few weeks.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whispered, "All three of us will be needed to finish him. We-"

"I'm afraid I can't let you go any further Naruto-kun." A cold, emotionless voice came from in front of them, making all three of them freeze.

Naruto turned forward, looking at the face that had been on his mind ever since he had first met him in Otafuki Gai. He hadn't changed a bit, his face held the same emotionless look the last time he had seen. And almost bored façade that could make several war veterans gnash their teeth at being ignored.

Naruto's demeanor changed, his face betraying no emotion, a stoic mask in place of his normal expressions. He gave Kakashi a nod before turning towards Akeginu. Kakashi was somewhat surprised when the kunoichi jumped back into the canopy of the trees, her presence vanishing in the next few seconds.

"It would be better if you surrendered Naruto-kun," Itachi continued. "You cannot expect to win in this situation, let alone try to save the Ichibi jinchūriki."

Naruto did not show any visible emotion to these words as he simply stood there.

"It seems that you are still the stubborn person that you once were," he drawled.

He brought his fist up, blocking the kick that the blond had thrown at him. Itachi looked at the blond, who had traversed the distance between them in less than a second.

Itachi's eyes flashed red, the three black tomoes forming within them.

"You have improved from the last we met."

Naruto jumped back to avoid the retaliatory kick sent his way.

"Let us see if you have improved enough."

Both the ninjas dashed forward.

 **Cliffhanger.**

 **I know.**

 **But don't worry. And I know that Naruto may not look stealthy as I have declared earlier, but there is a method to my writing. The cloak and dagger stuff will be there and many of his fights will incorporate discretion. The major battles though will be straight forward as the chance that characters like Itachi or Kisame will be difficult to portray.**

 **Anyhow, I intend to update my Pokémon fic next which I haven't done since January. Now that my exams are over I can get back to writing more wholeheartedly. I will try to update the fic by the next week but it may take a week more than that. So no commitment on the date of the update.**

 **Ja Ne!**


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